Tamil Nadu

Industrialist held for land fraud

Express News Service

An industrialist and three of his accomplices were arrested here on Friday for allegedly usurping his estranged wife’s property worth Rs 3 crore. He was also accused of using the land documents, which he forged, to obtain a bank loan of `4.5 crore.

According to police, S Nandhini (33), a resident of VPMS Nagar in Vellakovil,  Kangayam Taluk, married Raju (41), an industrialist, from Aruljothi Garden in Tirupur nine years ago. Raju ran a garment manufacturing unit in Tirupur town along with his partners Vijayakumar, Harishankar and Krishnakumar, all hailing from same area.

Following their marriage,  Nandhini, who owned a 5.5 cent property at Nallur near Tirupur, purchased two plots   measuring 1.26 acres and 76 cents respectively, in the same area. In 2010, the couple got a divorce and Nandini was living with her parents ever since.

A year later, Raju, who wanted to secure a loan for his business with a bank in Tirupur, planned to forge the documents of his estranged wife’s property to provide as security for the loan.

He then opened a bank account for his friend Banumathi, by claiming that she was Nandhini, and managed to obtain a release deed for his wife’s property by providing the details of the fictitious account.

Impersonating Banumathi as the owner of the property, he also obtained a power of attorney for it in Krishnakumar’s name with the help of Harishankar and Vijayakumar.

Using the forged documents, they secured a Rs 4.5 crore loan and also took over Nandhini’s property worth Rs 3 crore. Recently, Nandhini found out about the fraud and petitioned Superintendent of  Police A Asra Garg. Following investigations, police arrested  Raju, Harishankar, Vijayayakumar and Krishnakumar. A hunt was on for Banumathi.

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