The man, arrested in connection with a case registered by the Puthencruz police for visa fraud, is suspected to be part of a Mangaluru-based ‘hawala’ racket.
Police on Sunday arrested Anilkumar Natesan (55) for duping a woman from Kolancherry of Rs 6.20 lakh on the pretext of getting her an Israeli visa. He was absconding for a year since then and was nabbed from Varapuzha where he was living with a fake identity, they said. He said he had returned in 2021 after allegedly living illegally in Israel for five years after his visa expired in 2016.
Police said the modus operandi followed was not directly linked to visa fraud or the hawala racket, which was financed from money earned through fraud. According to the police, he never accepted money in his own account, but instead transferred money to his victims in the accounts of his accomplices who were part of the racket and were spread across the country, but mainly in Mangaluru. Were.
“While still living in Israel as an illegal immigrant, Anilkumar lured similar illegal immigrants from Kerala by paying them in Israeli currency as they transfer money back home through official channels for fear of being detected and deported were not able to. When he kept the currency with him, he asked his accomplices in India to deliver the money obtained through visa fraud to the families of illegal immigrants who had paid him cash,” police said.
“He is suspected to be involved since 2017. He is the prime accused in our case, while a woman from Kannur, his accomplice, and who was still in Israel, is the second accused. The other four accused had received money in their accounts through visa fraud and were spread across Udupi, Mangaluru, Pune and Mumbai, and they all used to receive huge commission from the main accused,” T. Dilish, Station House Officer, Puthencruz said.
Anil Kumar seems to have cheated many people, about 25 at last count. On Monday itself, the Puthencruz police received three complaints of cheating by the main accused. While one victim from Thodupuzha complained of losing ₹14 lakh, another from Mulanthuruthy lost ₹7 lakh, and a person from Andhra Pradesh complained of losing ₹18 lakh.
“We suspect that there will be more victims of the fraud. Many victims could not even lodge a complaint against the accused as they did not have evidence to prove that he had taken money from them. Also, most of them could not trace his whereabouts. There was no clue about him as he was mostly reached through social media calls,” Mr Dilish said.
The Puthencruz police is planning to take his custody for further questioning, after which a team may visit other states as part of the investigation and evidence collection.