KOLLAM: The Kollam East police have arrested two men who disguised themselves as ED officials and tried to defraud a Kollam native of two crore rupees to settle a money laundering case. Vipin. P. Varghese (39) and Binoy (41) were arrested.
In 2018, the Enforcement Directorate had registered a case under the PMLA Act against the Kollam Kadapakkada native and froze his assets. They tried to extort money by saying that this case will be settled and the freezing of assets will be lifted. The ED case is being investigated by the Kochi unit. The accused went to the Kochi unit many times and got acquainted with many officials. The accused tried to scam by saying that he was one of those officers from the Kochi unit.

On July 12, the accused called the Kollam native on the phone and asked him to come to a hotel in Thrissur saying that an officer of the Ernakulam unit had sent him. When he reached there, they introduced themselves as ED officials and demanded two crore rupees to end the investigation.

The accused again called him several times and threatened him to pay. They said that he should pay an advance of Rs 25 lakhs and let them know the place and time.

Hundred rupee note

The accused came to Kollam yesterday morning, introduced themselves as ED officials, contacted the Kadapakkada resident and sent the picture of a Rs 100 note on WhatsApp. They told the Kadapakkada native that two of their representatives are in a hotel near the railway station and he should pay them Rs 25 lakh after showing the photo of Rs 100 note on the phone.

The Kadapakkada resident lodged a complaint with the police. On seeing the police, the accused tried to escape and were chased by the police and arrested. Vipin.P. Varghese has three fraud cases and has spent 72 days in jail. They will be produced in court today.

"The accused will be taken into custody and further investigation will be conducted.-

S. Sheriff, Kollam ACP