Site brokers plan elaborate scam to cheat couple of Rs 1.1 crore

Planning to a buy a site in Bengaluru? You better take extreme caution, especially if you are dealing through brokers.

“Clear title, single owner, hassle-free registration” are some of the catchphrases used by unscrupulous brokers to lure buyers. A couple from Hosur, 35 km south of Bengaluru, lost nearly Rs 1.1 crore to a gang that lured them with a site at South Avenue Layout in Gottigere, which is seeing a lot of real estate development owing to upcoming metro connectivity.

In December 2019, Chakkaravarthy Nadupandu and his wife Rathiradevi got in touch with Shekhar N, 36, a real estate broker from JP Nagar. Their point of contact was a broker from Sarjapur named Uma Mahesh Rao, 41.

Nadupandu and Rathiradevi had been planning to buy a site in Bengaluru. Rao showed them the site in Gottigere. They liked and agreed to buy it. Rao introduced Shekhar’s wife Keerthana as the manager of the landowner Michael D’Souza, who lives abroad, but would come to India on the day of registration.

The couple first transferred Rs 30 lakh to a bank account opened in the name of D’Souza using forged documents. They then applied for a home loan and the bank gave them a Demand Draft for Rs 69,62,290. Everything was set and the couple waited for D’Souza to return to India to register the property.

Meanwhile, one Varghese Mathew had lost his job and was desperately seeking employment. He used to be a book store worker.

Mathew met Prajwal Ramaiah, a member of the gang, at Mayo Hall in December 2019, seeking a job. Ramaiah referred him to Keerthana who agreed to pay him some money for "help in the land registration process".

Mathew took the offer and unknowingly posed as D’Souza during the registration process in Bommanahalli on Dec. 21, 2019. However, he later learnt that he had been used as bait to cheat the couple and tipped them off. The couple checked the documents and detected the fraud on Feb. 6, 2020. However, they filed a complaint with the Konanakunte Police only by December 2020.

Konanakunte Police Inspector Nanjegowda S and his team arrested a total of five people and recovered gold jewellery worth Rs 17 lakh and three cars worth Rs 35 lakh from them. Apart from Shekhar, his wife Keerthana and Rao, police arrested Pavan Kumar B R, 36, from Kengeri, and Jayaprakash M, 39, of Krishnagiri. Ramaiah is still at large.