Crime Branch wing to probe cases

Crime Branch wing to probe cases

KOCHI: Director-General of Police Jacob Punnoose has said that the police have detected frauds estimated at Rs.1,000 crore that have been committed by chain-marketing companies during the past year and a half.

“As of now, the Economic Offences Wing of the Crime Branch will handle the cases with support from the local police,” Mr. Punnoose told The Hindu after a meeting of top-level officials at the Aluva Police Club, near here, on Sunday.

“This issue is more a social one, demanding the intervention of the police before the cheating is committed.”

The meeting was urgently convened in the light of the large number of such cases.

As part of the new strategy, the local police have been asked to keep track of money chains operating in their areas and discourage the public from investing in such “hare-brained” schemes. However, no nodal office for coordinating the drive has been formed. He said the problem faced by the State police was a paucity of pre-emptive laws, as most laws were complaint-oriented. “We do not have many preventive laws to check this from happening,” he said.

“Another interesting find was that two of the accused in cheating cases estimated at Rs.300 crore and Rs.250 crore were earlier arrested and convicted of similar charges elsewhere.”

Mr. Punnoose said the personnel of the State police have been warned against being part of such financial schemes. “Departmental action will be initiated against those found to have been gullibly trapped by the fraudsters to win public confidence, and personnel found actively promoting such activities will be made to leave the force,” he said.

The State police are working to formulate norms for bringing in credibility in the real estate sector, after the controversial Apple A Day Properties case. The managing partners of the firm surrendered before the court on Saturday after 169 criminal cases were registered on complaints from investors.

The norms will have elements that the builder and the investor will have to follow, and violations of these will be treated as cheating.