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TN police form teams to nab ‘helicopter brothers’ in financial fraud case
The siblings came to be called helicopter brothers after Ramadoss Ganesh celebrated his son’s first birthday by hiring a chopper and showering rose petals on the child in 2019
Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur police has formed multiple teams to search for ‘helicopter brothers’, Mariyur Ramadoss Ganesh and Mariyur Ramadoss Swaminathan, who have been absconding for a week since cases were filed against them for financial fraud.
The siblings came to be called helicopter brothers after Ramadoss Ganesh celebrated his son’s first birthday by hiring a chopper and showering rose petals on the child in 2019. “They became famous for often renting helicopters and flying over the town,” said a Thanjavur police inspector.
The brothers established three companies -- Victory Finance, Krish Dairy Farms, and Arjun Aviation. They also had political connections after Ganesh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party but the party has now removed him from his post as president in the traders’ wing after reports of cheating surfaced against him.
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Cases were filed against the brothers by two people who claimed they were cheated of the ₹15 crore and ₹25 lakh respectively that they invested in the sibling’s firm. The first case has six accused out of whom Srikanthan (full name not available), a manager of the brothers’ company, was arrested last week. “We arrested him soon after the case was registered. We have formed different teams to search for the main accused (the brothers),” said a senior police official involved in the investigations. “An FIR has been filed under three sections, including 120 (B) and 420 IPC. “It’s a serious offence. We are also investigating a foreign involvement but we cannot confirm it at this point,” he said. Details are not available on the second case yet.
The alleged fraud came to light after posters came up all over Kumbakonam town in Thanjavur district over a week ago with a picture of a helicopter, stating that the business run by the helicopter brothers cheated people to the tune of ₹600crore. Police couldn’t confirm the number of people allegedly duped as only people have filed a case so far. The brothers, through agents, collected deposits from the public over a period of two years with a promise of doubling their money in a year. Later, they cited the Covid-19 pandemic for not returning the deposits.
“There are more victims in this case. We want them to come forward and file a complaint and we will take legal action. Justice will be done for the two who have already complained,” said the senior official quoted above.
