Chennai: The Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) of Tamil Nadu arrested 30 people and dismantled six syndicates involved in the multi-crore Iridium scam during large-scale raids across the state and in four other locations outside Tamil Nadu on Saturday. Officials said the syndicates cheated victims of more than 25 crore by luring them with false promises of huge returns.According to investigators, the operatives convinced businessmen and individuals that over 10,000 crore was held in dormant Reserve Bank of India (RBI) accounts, allegedly accrued from the sale of Iridium, a rare metal. Victims were told they could earn 1 crore by paying an upfront sum of 1 lakh. Probes revealed that several victims paid between 10 lakh and 20 lakh to the fraudsters. The scam came to light after one victim wrote to the RBI inquiring about the so-called frozen funds. The RBI forwarded the complaint to the Tamil Nadu DGP, following which the CB-CID launched a state-wide probe.Earlier this week, 13 suspects linked to the racket were arrested in Salem and remanded in custody. Interrogations of the accused helped police trace other members across districts. Based on this information, the CB-CID registered 13 cases statewide and carried out a coordinated search operation at 47 locations — 43 in Tamil Nadu and four in Puducherry, Karnataka, and other states. The operation involved 10 Deputy Superintendents of Police, 35 Inspectors, and 12 Sub-Inspectors. Among those arrested were five key conspirators identified as S H S Swaminathan of Chennai, Jeyaraj of Katpadi, A C Ravichandran of Kudumiyanmalai, Gnanaprakasam of Manapparai, and Daisy Rani of Dindigul. “All arrested suspects have been remanded to judicial custody. Efforts are on to identify the remaining members of the syndicate and track their financial networks,” a senior CB-CID officer said.Investigations are continuing, and officials stated that more arrests are likely as further links in the fraud are uncovered during questioning.
