Chennai: Robbing at gunpoint and impersonating a police officer to orchestrate a job racket running into crore of rupees are not petty allegations to be ignored. But, even before the police initiated investigations, a film producer and his former assistant have alleged heinous crimes against each other in a span of a week at the city police commissioner’s office. And, to further their cause, they are opting the way of media trial.
“Film producer Thanjai K. Saravanan posed as a police officer on Chief Minister’s security detail and cheated close to a 150 gullible aspirants in and around Namakkal of at least Rs3.5 crore,” said R. Prabhakaran at a media gathering here on Friday. Only a week ago, Prabhakaran was accused of armed robbery by his estranged boss. On June 3, Saravanan who has produced and directed a yet-to-be-released movie, titled Miss Pannidadheenga; Apram Varuthapaduveenga, approached the city police commissioner’s office alleging that he was robbed at gun-point.
The armed robbery, Saravanan said, was orchestrated by his former assistant Prabhakaran and lakhs of rupees stolen from his Virugambakkam residence. Saravanan went on to give media bytes alleging his former assistant of arson, which was aired on a few TV channels and even given prominent display in a vernacular daily. The very next day, the alleged suspect came to the T. Nagar deputy commissioner’s office. Now, it was his turn to roll the dice. “My boss is a fraudster and had cheated several aspirants promising them government jobs by posing as a police officer on CM’s security detail and that’s how he got the money to produce the movie,” Prabhakaran deposed before the DCP.
“Why will I approach the cops if I am guilty of arson?” asks Prabhakaran and described the modus operandi of his former boss. “A handle bar moustache, safari suit and a rented house near the armed police batallion in Tiruchy was enough for him to pull the trick. It was money procured by that means that he used in producing the movie,” Prabhakaran claimed. T. Nagar district cops, yet to initiate investigations into their complaints, have ruled out the armed robbery claim.
However, a senior police officer said the two of them worked in cahoots while cheating the aspirants and investigators are already trying to trace the cheated aspirants. “Both of them seem to be hand-in-glove in the job racket. The cheated persons are from Namakkal district. We will be procuring their statements soon,” said a senior police officer.
