South Indian actor arrested for fraud in Delhi

South Indian actor Leena Maria Paul was arrested from a farmhouse here for allegedly cheating a bank of Rs.19 crore, police said Tuesday.

Paul, 25, was living with her male friend, Balaji alias Sekar Reddy alias Sukkesh Chandrasekar, who is the kingpin in the case. He is absconding.

A joint operation by Delhi Police and Chennai Police led to Paul at the farmhouse in Fatehpur Beri in south Delhi Monday night.

According to police, Balaji had approached Canara Bank in Chennai posing as an IAS officer and got a Rs.19 crore loan sanctioned using forged documents on the pretext of opening a firm.

Balaji had submitted forged documents to the bank.

The duo was also wanted in two other cases in Chennai.

"They came to Delhi and started living here at the farmhouse a month ago," said an official. Nine luxury cars were recovered from the farmhouse.

On the basis of photographs available with Chennai Police, Paul and five to six bouncers were arrested.

"Paul revealed that she did her schooling in Dubai, where her parents live. Her father is an engineer there. She was modelling and acting in films for the past two years," said the official.