CHENNAI: Secretary-general of Indo-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries P Thangappan, 68, has been arrested on charges of abusing his position and aiding fraudsters in cheating a businessman of 7.3 crore, promising to get him 2,000 crore worth of Russian government contracts.
Police, who in November 2024 arrested nine people in connection with the case, said the main accused, C Arunraj, 38, ran a company called Indo-Russian Business Associates (IRBA). He lived in a beach house on ECR, hired armed security guards, and roamed in a luxury car with the Russian flag to convince potential investors, said police.
Police recovered 476 sovereigns of gold jewellery, 400kg of silver, 14.5 lakh in cash, and 11 luxury cars, including BMW, Audi, and Mercedes, among others, from him.
Arunraj sent retired VAO Dharman and a tahsildar deputed to Tasmac, Viswanathan, to lure the businessman who was interested in solar energy and jewellery certification projects. They had also held a meeting with him at a star hotel in R A Puram, according to police.
Further inquiries revealed that Thangappan, who took 4 crore from Arunraj, posted him as deputy secretary-general and let him to run his office from the Russian Cultural Centre, Chennai, for a monthly rent of 1.58 lakh since 2021, without the knowledge of the Russian Cultural Centre authorities. Thangappan was produced before a magistrate and remanded in judicial custody.
Meanwhile, police received another complaint from a businessman in Tirupur, who alleged that Arunraj and his accomplices cheated him of 4.4 crore.