Five Convicted to 14 Years Imprisonment in Coimbatore Overseas Job Scam; Rs. 56 Lakh Fine Imposed​

COIMBATORE, March 28, 2026 – Bringing a long-standing legal battle to a close, the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Coimbatore has sentenced five individuals to rigorous imprisonment for their roles in a massive overseas job recruitment fraud.

The court also slapped a collective fine of Rs. 56 lakh on the convicts and ordered the confiscation of their assets to compensate the victims.​The case dates back to 2005 when the accused operated a firm named Yanbo Associates in Gandhipuram, Coimbatore.

The group targeted young professionals and laborers by promising lucrative job opportunities in the United Kingdom and Cyprus. According to the investigation, they used forged foreign employment permits to lure victims, charging them fees ranging from Rs. 80,000 to Rs. 3 lakh per person.

The scam was initially investigated by the Kattoor police before being transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2011 following orders from the Hon’ble High Court of Madras.​

The primary convicts—Pulliyil Cheriyan (Managing Director of the firm), Francis Arun, Asha Sharlet, and Santosh William—were sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment and a total fine of Rs. 54 lakh.

A fifth person, Preetha Kumari, received a four-year sentence with a Rs. 2 lakh fine. In a significant move for victim restitution, the court ordered the sale of 448 grams of seized gold ornaments to provide compensation to those defrauded.​

The trial saw the charges against three other accused individuals—Narayanan Ramesh Babu, V. N. Shine, and Benjamin William Sawer—abated following their deaths during the proceedings.

The CBI had filed its chargesheet in March 2012, leading to this final conviction over a decade later, marking a major victory against fraudulent recruitment agencies.