A 43-year-old woman has been arrested for fraud after she allegedly conducted selection trials for boys by falsely promising them IPL berths.
Nazarath Shahabuddhin from Thiruvananthapuram was arrested by Aluva police following complaints from the boys' parents and remanded in judicial custody, police said today.
The woman and her brother are the President and Secretary respectively of Thiruvananthapuram based "SHA club", which "conducted the selection trials" early this month and "selected" 13 boys aged 17 years.
Police said the parents had been told that the boys would be taken to Jaipur later this month for matches and depending on their performance, they would be selected for the national T20 team. The woman demanded Rs 25,000 from each of the boys for food, travel, jersey and bat.
Sensing something amiss, the parents approached police and cases under various sections of IPC including 465 (forgery), 468(cheating), 471(making or possessing counterfeit seal) and 511 (attempting to commit offences) have been registered against the woman, police said.
The woman advertised in newspapers claiming to be state coordinator of India Twenty- Twenty cricket federation at Jaipur.
Police said further investigation needs to be done to find out if such "selection trials" had been conducted in other parts of the state and if she had collected money from parents.
The woman is lodged in Kakkanad prison.
