Bizman faces probe for cheating French national of ` 7.76 lakh

Mangaluru: Theophile Raux, a French national working in Mangaluru for a solar power company, was conned of Rs 7.76 lakh by a local businessman. But the cheat could go as far as just 400 kilometres before the agile police of Mangluru caught up with in Goa where he was luxuriating himself. The police dragged him back and made him cough up the money. Brij Mohan will now face a police investigation.

Thanks to Violet Pereira, a local journalist who followed up with the Deputy Commissioner of Law and Order, Mangaluru city, Hariram Shankar and helped Raux to get back the money.

Raux said, "I had made an arrangement with a businessman (name has been withheld on request of the family) to stay in his apartment in Kadri Kambala, an upmarket place in the city. When I started sharing his apartment for the first few days everything went on well before he asked me for a loan of Rs. 7.76 lakh which I had transferred to his account through UPI. But soon he went absconding and was not answering my calls. That was when I got suspicious, but luckily I got to know Violet Periera who helped me out. He introduced me to Deputy Commissioner of Police Hariram Shankar and assured me to get my money back. Which he did and faster than I thought".

Hariram Shankar spared no effort in tracing the businessman in Goa. The matter was settled when the father of the businessman paid Raux the money through a demand draft in front of the police and Violet Pereira. "Though the money has been restored to Mr Raux, police will continue the investigation," Shankar told. "My team comprising ACP Central P A Hegde, police inspector Kadri Ananth Padmanabh, sub inspector Anitha, PHC Vishwanath and PC Dheerendra, HCs Jayanand and Umesh and the crime branch Mangalore East police station for investigation." Violet has earned a name for helping people in trouble in Mangaluru.