Eight persons, including owner of a popular private firm involved in Emu farming near Erode, have been booked by police for allegedly cheating a large number of people to the tune of crores of rupees by promising lucrative returns on investments in commercial rearing of the bird.
The police registered a case against eight persons, including the chairman and managing director of Susi emu farms at Perundurai, M.S. Guru.
The district administration also launched a detailed probe into what is suspected to be a scam involving several crores of rupees.
Guru and seven others of the firm have been booked under Sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, based on written complaints from five investors. The complainants claimed that they had invested in the commercial emu farming schemes of the firm, which assured monthly returns. But, the payments dried up recently and requests were not answered.
Guru has admitted to distributing more than 1,60,000 emu chicks across the state, luring investors with advertisements making false claims. He even had Kollywood movie stars encouraging people to invest. He went a bit too far when he used former president A P J Abdul Kalam in a promotional campaign.
Kalam's secretary approached the police and Guru had to spend a few days in jail. When Guru had met Kalam in Delhi, he got a photo of them together and cleverly used the picture in promotional campaigns, as if the former president was advocating emu farming. |
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