A day after 51 Sri Lankan refugees from various camps in Tamil Nadu were detained at Thekkady in Kerala, two men have been arrested for duping the refugees with the promise of sending them to Australia via Kochi.

While all the detained refugees have been sent to their respective camps, police have launched a hunt for one more person involved in the racket. The arrested were identified as K Uma Ramanan, 27, who also happened to be a Sri Lankan refugee staying in Thiruvathavoor camp and his accomplice Arulseelan, 37, from Trichy refugee camp.

The arrests have revealed that it was yet another instance of the racketeers duping gullible refugees rather than as an attempt to smuggle them out of India and send them to Australia. “Over the last few years this has been the modus operandi of several gangs across Tamil Nadu. Sri Lankan refugees, who are lured by the lucre and perceived liberty in Australia, fall for these conmen,” said a Q branch official from a coastal district in south Tamil Nadu.

In October 2010, a gang had duped 55 refugees and left them to suffer in Chinthalakkarai, a nondescript village near Ettayapuram in Tuticorin district. In fact the accused in that case was also named Ramanan, raising suspicion whether it was the same person now christened as Uma Ramanan, but police found the two were different. Four days later, another small group of Lankan refugees were duped by the conmen and left to suffer in a Kanyakumari lodge.

There were at least five similar instances in 2011 of the refugees being let to suffer in places they were new to. In only one instance, the refugees were detained when they were actually in the sea sailing towards Australia.

Even in this instance, Uma Ramanan had apparently deceived them. “It was sheer cheating. Uma Ramanan had received Rs 10,000 from each of the 51 refugees. After asking them to come to Thekkady promising them to send to Australia via Kerala coast, he demanded Rs 5,000 more. But his intention was to cheat them,” said a police official.

The refugees, including 13 children and 10 women were kept in a marriage hall and inquired before being sent to their camps, Times of India reports.