The Entrustment Document Fraud (EDF) Wing of the Central Crime Branch in Chennai has arrested P. Thangappan, secretary-general of Indo-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, for his alleged involvement with a group of nine persons in cheating two businessmen to the tune ₹11.81 crore under the pretext of getting them an investment opportunity of up to ₹2,000 crore from the Russian government.
Goushik, a businessman who has an office in T. Nagar, lodged a complaint in this regard with the City Police Commissioner last year. He alleged that Arunraj, who ran a company named Indo-Russian Business Associates in Alwarpet, claimed he was a delegate of the Indo-Russian Chambers of Commerce and Industries Limited.
Arunraj claimed that Russia was ready to invest in schemes in India and told Goushik he could get him an investment of up to ₹2,000 crore for a project in Tiruchi, for which he was looking for investors. Convinced by the claims, the businessman transferred ₹7.32 crore to the accused’s accounts between March and October, 2024, towards commission or facilitation charges.
He later realised he was duped. The police, while investigating the case, found that the prime accused Arunraj had links with Thangappan. Thangappan had appointed Arunraj as the deputy chairman of his association using fake documents, and exploiting this title, Arunraj and his associates contacted the complainant, the police said.
The police said that without the knowledge of officials from the R.
