Kasaragod: Hyderabad City Police arrested two men from Kanhangad for allegedly duping a jobseeker out of Rs 9.44 lakh in Telangana.

Police said the accused created bank accounts using fake documents or took bank accounts on rent to receive and transfer ill-gotten money. The accused "supplied" 18 accounts which saw transactions worth Rs 26 crore, the Hyderabad City Police said.

The arrested men were identified as Ahammed Kabeer Cherammel, a native of Kanhangad and director of Oravankara Construction Private Limited, and his accomplice Noushad Cherammel of Kanhangad.

The two men were accused of duping two Kanhangad-based businessmen out of Rs 2 crore in 2022. Though Hosdurg police, then headed by Station House Officer – Inspector K P Shine, registered two FIRs, the case was not investigated or the accused questioned, said a complainant.

In the Hyderabad case, police said the accused contacted the victim over Telegram and offered him a part-time job of rating and reviewing companies on social media. But to keep the job, the victim had to first make a payment. Initially, the victim got more than he paid. But as the levels of ratings kept rising, he had to shell out more money to stay in the job. He ended up losing around Rs 9.44 lakh.

After Hyderabad City Police made the arrest, Muhammad Mansur (36), a perfume businessman, said Ahammed Kabeer Cherammel duped him out of Rs 1.7 crore. Muhammed Nuhman M (26), another businessman, said he lost Rs 30 lakh to Kabeer's fraudulent investment scheme.

Mansur said he came in contact with Ahammed Kabeer in 2021 through his brother-in-law. "Kabeer said the government owned his company Oravankara Construction Rs 17 crore and asked me to deposit some money in the company for a high monthly return to tide over the cash crunch. He took me to his well-furnished office in Kanhangad and showed me some government documents, which now I think were forged," said Mansur.

Between November 2021, and May 2022, Mansur gave Kabeer Rs 1.70 crore. When he did not get the promised monthly returns, he approached Hosdurg Police in August 2022. "I was able to go to the police because I had the agreements and details of the cheques given to him. But many in Kanhangad gave him cash after pawning their gold jewellery and land," said Mansur, who sells perfume in Abu Dhabi. "In hindsight, I think the company was registered to dupe people," he said.