The men were pretending to be the owners of Hotel Ambica Empire and were trying to sell it to buyers from Kerala for ₹165 crore

Three persons have been arrested by the Vadapalani police for impersonating the owners of a hotel and attempting to sell the hotel at ₹165 crore, to a group from Kerala.

At the lobby of Hotel Ambica Empire, five persons were sitting on the couch and negotiating hard to sell the hotel, representing themselves as the owners and general managers of the hotel, to buyers from Kerala. The hotel staff who overheard their conversation and learnt that they were negotiating to sell the hotel. This soon reached the ears of the manager of the hotel. After verifying with the real owner, the manager alerted the police about the fraudsters.

Further investigations revealed that three of them were from Chennai while two others were from Kerala. Sustained interrogation disclosed the trio to be Karunankaran, 70, Paramanandham, 55 and Dakshinamurthy, 60 of Chennai.

A few days ago, they met a representatives of a private firm in Kerala and pretended to be the original owners of Ambica Empire in Chennai. They offered to sell the hotel for ₹165 crore. Attracted to the deal being offered, the representatives of the buyers reached Chennai and were staying at the same hotel, as per the advice of the trio, for two days. The three men demanded the buyers pay 10 % of the total sale value as an advance payment.

The men were arrested and documents were seized from them. Further investigations are on.