A Kerala-based coffee planter who has settled in Bengaluru, has filed a petition with Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy after he was cheated of nearly Rs 1 crore.
The Kerala CM has directed the DGP of Kerala to investigate and take action against the accused. After the petition was filed, the accused have been allegedly threatening the planter claiming that they have links with underworld operatives Dawood Ibrahim and Ravi Poojary.
They cheated him by dropping the names of the Kerala CM and other politicians of Kerala, said sources.
The victim, after noticing suspicious movement of people near his residence in Koramangala, has approached the top cops of the city for protection.
The planter, M.K. Kuruvilla, in his petition to the Kerala CM, claimed that in June 2011, Binu Nair, an educational consultant at Ernakulam, approached him for setting up a solar power project for major industries and townships in Kerala with Korean technology and UK funding. The condition was that Mr Kuruvilla had to provide only the land and provide for the initial expenses.
Mr Nair claimed that one of his directors named Andrews was the first cousin of the Kerala CM. He operated from Abu Dhabi and would arrange the technology as well as the project funding from UK, Mr Kuruvilla was told.
Mr Nair is also said to have claimed that another director, Mr Deljith, was a politician in Kerala and the personal secretary of the Kerala CM. With their political connections, Mr Nair claimed that they would get the project sanctioned through the Kerala CM.
Mr Kuruvilla believed Mr Nair and gave more than `1 crore by account transfer and by cash at different junctures, said a senior police officer.
Even a year after giving the money, the project was not sanctioned. Due to this, Mr Kuruvilla sought a refund and then started getting threats from different numbers.
The unidentified callers threatened that that they would kidnap Kuruvilla’s children and would kill his entire family since they had underworld connections with Dawood Ibrahim and others, the officer said.
Mr Kuruvilla warned the callers that he would file a cheating case against all those who had cheated him. In the first week of October this year, Mr Kuruvilla received a call from an unknown number with the caller telling him that one Ravi Poojary was on the line.
The person claiming to be Ravi Poojary threatened Kuruvilla that if he demanded money from Binu Nair and others, he would have to face action. He also threatened to eliminate the entire Kuruvilla family.
After receiving the threatening calls, Mr Kuruvilla met the Kerala CM and narrated the incident. On October 17, Mr Kuruvilla gave a petition to the CM who directed the state DGP to take immediate action. An FIR was registered against them in Kerala and the investigation is on.