CHENNAI: Kancheepuram district police on Thursday arrested four persons for attempting to deposit two forged cheques worth Rs 4 crore at ICICI bank branch in Maduranthagam.
Paul Raj, who claimed to run an NGO, New Education Young Woman Trust, approached the bank on Thursday along with two of his assistants. He had approached assistant manager Chanakyan and handed over two cheques, one from a company in Gujarat and another in Kolkata who had each issued a cheque of Rs 2 crore each to their NGO.
Since the amount was large, the cheques were forwarded to the bank headquarters who, on inspection found that while the cheque leaves were original, the signatures were forged. Their doubts were confirmed when they corresponded with the companies who denied issuing any such cheque in the past week.
Maduranthagam police were informed and the trio were rounded up. Paul Raj claimed that he was given the cheque by a businessman named Haneefa at a meeting at a star hotel in Chennai. However, when police cross checked with the hotel, no such meeting took place nor was Paul Raj found in any of the CCTV images in the hotel at the day and time he said he was there.
Paul Raj, his assistant, Don Jerry (54) and their car driver, Mahesh (30) of Thiruvallur were arrested. Further investigations revealed that the cheque leaves were stolen and given to them by P. Sampath (54) of Udumalaipet. They then forged the signatures and attempted to siphon off the money from the private companies’ accounts.
The four of them have been arrested, produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.
