The CB-CID police in Coimbatore have arrested a notorious criminal Prabakaran (49) belonging to Hasthampatti in Salem district, an accused in several online cheating cases across Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in the country.
The accused had defrauded gullible people to the extent of several crores of rupees, for over two decades, mainly through online transactions carried out from other people’s accounts, CB-CID sources said.
In Coimbatore district, the case against Prabakaran was registered in Perur limits in Coimbatore during 2002, under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (fraud) and 109 (punishment for abetment).
Non-bailable warrants were also issued by courts in Erode and Salem districts for similar cases filed there.
Criminal cases have so far been registered against the accused in Chennai, Pothanur, Erode Town and Salem Fairland in Tamil Nadu, and elsewhere at Mumbai, Siliguri, and Bengaluru, under IPC sections.
The arrest of Prabakaran was effected based on a warrant issued by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Coimbatore.
The accused had been indulging in online fraud ever since he graduated in engineering from a college in Coimbatore, police sources said.
An investigator in the CB-CID team said the accused had, during the years in hiding, changed his name to Kuppuraj, and even obtained Aadhaar card for him and family members by faking identities.
His wife Vandarakuzhali who was an accomplice in crimes, had her name changed to Vanitha, police sources said, adding that she is currently on bail.
Police inquiries had further revealed that the name of the son of the accused couple who was studying abroad had also been changed before obtaining passport.
At the time of detention by a CB-CID team of Tuticorin in Bengaluru, Prabakaran was with another accused whom the team was after in a cybercrime case. The Tuticorin CB-CID team handed over Prabakaran to their Coimbatore counterparts after establishing his actual identity.
Prabakaran, police sources said, was arrested in 2005 in the 2002 case, but had jumped bail in 2010 whereafter he had changed his name and went on to obtain a new Aadhaar card. The passport he had obtained in Hyderabad established his current identity as Muthusamy Kuppuraj.
CB-CID sources said they saw a likelihood for more new cases to be reported in the wake of his arrest.
Published - November 12, 2024 06:37 pm IST
