The Crime Branch police in the Virudhunagar district of Tamil Nadu had apprehended a state BJP functionary for cheating a woman to the tune of Rs 70 lakh. The arrested BJP functionary was among the six people who were taken into custody based on a complaint from a woman, who is a resident of Virudhunagar. 

According to reports, 37-year-old Sathishkumar was BJP's town secretary in Kodaikanal, Dindigul. Along with his associates, he cheated a woman named Ranganayagi by swindling money from her with a fake assurance of selling a land to her. Ranganayagi is a resident of Soolakarai in Virudhunagar and her brother Suryanarayanan was a businessman in Singapore. 

Suryanarayanan was sending money to Ranganayagi and with that money, she had purchased properties in Virudhunagar. Sathishkumar and his associates including Padmanabhan had approached Ranganayagi and her another brother Veerapandi and said that they have 12.7 acres of land at Vandiyur in Madurai and they are willing to sell it for Rs 34.9 crore. 

Ranganayagi and her brother Veerapandi fell to the deal and in 2021, Ranganayagi was demanded Rs 50 lakh by Sathishkumar and team as the advance. After their demand, Ranganayagi gave them Rs 50 lakh and later, she got another demand from the them and this time, Sathishkumar and his team asked Rs 20 lakh. Ranganayagi paid that amount as well. However, there were no updates from the team about the deal. 

Recently, Ranganayagi inquired about the land and she was shocked to learn the fact that the said land in the deal belongs to the Kallazhagar temple at Alagarkoil in Madurai. After knowing that she was cheated, Ranganayagi lodged a complaint in Virudhunagar against the accused.

Based on her complaint, the Virudhunagar District Crime Branch police had registered a case under various sections of IPC including section 420- cheating of the IPC. The police then arrested Sathishkumar, Padmanabhan, Sumathi, Anguraj, Chandran, and Kulandhai Selvam and taken them into custody.