Swedish couple cheated of 4 crore by five

Thiruvananthapuram: Ayiroor police are looking for five men who allegedly took Rs 4 crore from a Swedish couple in the pretext of starting an orphanage in Varkala. Swedish couple, Anna Helina Elizabath and Brandit, was allegedly cheated by Pullanikode native Thilakan, Nadayara native Sajeev, Punnakulam native Binumon, Edava native Najeev and an unidentified Edava native.
The Swedish couple who had adopted a four-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh in 1995 visited Varkala with the girl in 2018. The trio then hired an auto rickshaw driven by Thilakan from Edava for a ride. Thilakan who later became a trusted man of the couple exploited the relationship to cheat them.
Later Thilakan and four of his friends approached the couple, who were interested in charity activities, for starting a business and an orphanage in Varkala. The plan was to run the orphanage from the profit gained from the business. The couple later transferred Rs 4 crore to Thilakan’s account at various occasions. During their visit to India, the accused even took them to a fake orphanage. However, the couple who became suspicious of his activities by then, asked Thilakan to send them the registration certificate of the orphanage, following which the accused stopped contacting the couple. Finally on January 3 this year, the Swedish couple filed a complaint at Ayiroor station.
The police have registered a case under sections of IPC 420 for cheating, 379 for theft, 506 for criminal intimidation and 34 for criminal acts done jointly by several persons.