Sub-registrar, realty firm owner arrested over fraudulent sale of sites in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bengaluru police on Tuesday announced the arrest of a sub-registrar and the owner of a real-estate firm for cheating landowners. 

However, police are yet to disclose the identity of the suspects as investigations are still underway. Both individuals were believed to have been absconding for nearly three years. 

Police made the arrests following a complaint from a Beratena Agrahara resident. 

The person filed the complaint at the Parappana Agrahara police station in 2022, and the case was transferred to the CCB's Organised Crime Wing (OCW) in 2024. 

The landowner was acquainted with the real-estate firm owner and had entered into a verbal agreement with him to develop residential sites on his land. 

As per the agreement, the company developed 107 sites on the property. But the company owner, along with another individual, allegedly misled the landowner by saying he had authorised them through the agreement to sell the sites. They took him to the sub-registrar's office, saying only one site will be registered in his presence. 

"However, in collusion with the sub-registrar and a computer operator, the suspects created fake documents and sold multiple sites to the public without the complainant's knowledge, collecting crores of rupees and cheating him by not paying any money," a police statement said.