Kochi: The actress whose beauty parlour at Panampilly Nagar became the venue of a shooting on Saturday led a life of luxury funded by large-scale scams. Leena Maria, who was seldom seen without her two bodyguards, faces several fraud cases.

Leena was arrested in 2015 along with business partner Sukash Chandrasekhar and four others by the Economic Offences Wing. The case related to fraud of Rs 10 crore in which the accused tried to dupe people by promising to increase returns on their investments manifold.

Leena and Chandrasekhar were arrested in 2013 in Chennai in connection with a case of fraud of Rs 19 crore. They were accused of swindling money from Canara Bank’s branch at Ambattur. The Central Bureau of Investigation took over investigation of the case on the direction of the Madras High Court.

The duo was arrested by the Chennai central crime branch in June 2013. They were granted bail by a court later. They also face investigation by the enforcement directorate. Chandrasekhar used a vending machine manufacturer, Chennai-based Future Technics Private Limited, as a front to dupe the bank.

The company promised an order of 30,000 vending machines from the Karnataka government. Bank manager V Jagadeesh, company managing director M Balasubramanian and wife Chitra were arrested in connection with the case.

The scam came to light with the arrest of Leena in Delhi on a complaint by the bank. The Karnataka government had indeed called for tenders to supply vending machines on its website. Chandrasekhar came across the notification and called up the Chennai company representatives. He pretended to be Jayakumar IAS, the officer who had signed the tender notification, and offered the company the lucrative order worth Rs 132 crore.

The company officers fell into the trap and approached the bank for a loan. Chandrasekhar had called up the bank manager, again pretending to be the IAS officer from Karnataka, and recommended the private company for a loan.

The bank manager transferred Rs 19 crore to the company, which deposited the money to the accounts specified by the caller who identified himself as Jayakumar. Those accounts were later found to be fake by the enforcement directorate. The crime branch froze the accounts.

The crime branch also found that Chandrasekhar bought luxury cars, gold and diamonds with the money he embezzled from the bank.

Leena was arrested by the central crime branch in Delhi for duping a textile merchant at Selayur of Rs 72 lakh and the embezzlement at the Canara Bank branch.

Leena was drawn to Chandrasekhar while she was a student in a dental college in Bengaluru. The aspiring model was offered a promising career by Chandrasekhar. The police said that she even hoped to marry him.

Chandrasekhar gained Leena’s trust by introducing her to a prominent choreographer in Chennai and a leading director in Mumbai. She tended to associate with the scams orchestrated by Chandrasekhar.

The authorities also found that a Rolls Royce Phantom car seized from the actress’s farm house carried a fake number plate. Also seized were eight luxury cars including Aston Martin, BMW, Range Rover and Audi. There were 81 expensive wrist watches too.

Leena’s clandestine life resembled a movie script. She introduced herself as a dentist or an IAS officer, depending who she was talking to.