Actress, husband arrested in Real estate fraud case

New Delhi: Actress Dhanya Mary Varghese was Friday arrested along with her husband and brother-in-law in connection with a Rs 130 crore cheating case by a company promoted by her husband's family, police said. The actress along with her husband John Jacob, Managing Director of the Samson and Sons Builders and Developers Private Ltd, and his brother Samuel Jacob, were taken into custody from Nagercoil on complaints from various persons who had invested in apartments and villas promised by the developers, police said. Dhanya was serving as Director, sales, in the company. According to police, Dhanya's father-in-law, Jacob Samson, Chairman of the company, had been arrested earlier. Their real estate company had taken up various projects in Thiruvananthapuram city in 2011, promising to deliver 500 flats and 20 villas within two years.They had collected Rs 100 crore as advance during booking from various people, including non-resident Keralites and another Rs 30 crore promising high interest, police said. However, when they failed to deliver the promised flats, several people filed complaints with police. The three had been hiding at Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kerala before they were arrested by a special investigation team constituted by City Police Commissioner from Nagercoil, police said. Dhanya debuted with Tamil film'Thirudi'. She has acted in several Malayalam films including 'Thalappavu', 'Kerala Cafe', 'Nayakan', 'Red Chillies' and 'Pranayam', before getting married in January 2012.