Chennai: Four months after Chennai police registered a case against actor turned politician J.K. Rithesh in connection with a case of cheating of '2.18 crore based on a complaint from a techie based in US, the investigators from city central crime branch say they are still ‘verifying documents’.
CCB sleuths had registered a criminal conspiracy case against actor-turned politician Rithesh alias Sivakumar on charges of cheating a US citizen of Indian origin of Rs 2.18 crore in the first week of April this year. The victim S. Athinarayanan, in his complaint, had stated that he had given the money to the then DMK MP J.K. Rithesh in January 2014. The respondents are Rithesh, his wife Jotheeswari, his aides Naganathar Sethupathi, Nagendiran and Basheer alias Actor Vaali alias Vijayakarthik, Suresh Kannan, and Muralidharan.
“We are verifying the documents and asked for some papers from the complainant”, said the AC who had registered the case, when this newspaper contacted him. The complainant had a totally different version to tell. “I have given him all the documents. In fact the officer made me to come all the way from US to Chennai to take a statement, promising immediate action in June. But nothing has happened so far,” Athinaryanan, told this newspaper.
The accused were booked under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
In January 2014, Athinarayan had wound up operations in his software consulting firm in New Jersey after consolidating his business for 15 years due to a family emergency and came to Chennai. It is during this visit that Athinarayanan got acquainted with the politico, who was the Lok Sabha MP elected from Ramanathapuram.
Rithesh struck a personality of an influential parliamentarian. He reportedly took Athinarayanan to Delhi and introduced him to a few MPs and advised him about possible investments. All this happened in a matter of two weeks after the victim met him for the first time in January 2014.
The then MP took money — cheques in the names of his associates— in multiple instalments promising great returns. “But within a few months I found his promises were not taking shape and I started asking him to return the money,” Athinarayanan had said in his complaint. “As I have given money from my foreign exchange savings, he agreed to pay Rs 3 crore (including interest) and issued three cheques last year. All three bounced,” Athinarayanan said.
