Two from Namakkal get 10 years jail in emu farm scam

Coimbatore: A special court under the TNPID (Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors in Financial Establishments) Act in Coimbatore on Wednesday, sentenced two men to 10 years imprisonment in connection with an emu farm scam.The convicts were identified as Chandrasekaran, 48, and Somasundaram, 55, both from Namakkal. Police said the duo had been operating an emu farm named ‘Aadhavan’ since 2012. They introduced several lucrative investment schemes, including one that required an initial investment of ₹1.5 lakh for six emu birds, promising a return payment of ₹15,000 plus 4 grams of gold over 24 months. Lured by these offers, many people from surrounding areas invested lakhs of rupees. However, the accused failed to fulfil their promises, resulting in a fraud amounting to ₹2.37 crore.The victims subsequently lodged a complaint with the Namakkal district economic offences wing (EOW). A police investigation revealed that 115 investors had been defrauded of ₹2,37,98,900. A case was also filed against the farm owners’ cashier, Amutha, and their partners, Ramakrishnan and Anandhan.During the trial hearing on Wednesday, judge M N Senthil Kumar sentenced Chandrasekaran and Somasundaram to 10 years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1.3 crore. However, the remaining three accused were acquitted. Special public prosecutor Muthu Vijayan represented the prosecution.