BENGALURU: Former Congress MLA from Devanahalli Assembly constituency K Venkataswamy is in the dock for allegedly cheating a 88-year-old man to the tune of over Rs 1.78 crore after purchasing an agricultural land from him. Shidlaghatta Rural police have filed a chargesheet against Venkataswamy recently.
According to the chargesheet, Venkataswamy had made an unregistered agreement with Srinivasan, a resident of Iddaludu village of Kasaba hobli in Shidlaghatta taluk in Chikkaballapura, on August 26, 2013, for purchasing 26.06 acres of agricultural land for Rs 13.25 lakh per acre. The same day, he prepared an agreement for purchase of 22.25 acres for Rs 10.25 lakh, saying that he can’t give account for income tax and thus he will pay rest of the amount in cash. He also assured the Srinivasan that since it was an agricultural land, there would be no problem for the seller from the I-T department.
On October 24, 2013, Venkataswamy promised to pay the entire amount and took Srinivasan to the sub-registrar office. There, he did not allow him to read the sale deeds, and made him sign on the agreement, assuring him that the remaining amount is in the car parked outside and that he would give the cash soon after the registration is over.
But Srinivasan later found out that the former MLA had registered per acre for only Rs 5 lakhs. Venkataswamy, who insisted the seller that had to trust him as he was ex-MLA, also cheated him on the pretext of getting his Arms licence renewed. He advised Srinivasan that he cannot run around government officers to get the licence renewed and that he will help him in getting it. The MLA got his signature on three blank papers. Later, he fraudulently converted them as receipts of having paid Srinivasan the land purchase money.
Despite repeated requests, Venkataswamy did not give him the money. Though he had given cheques, they bounced or got rejected as the signature did not match. The total transaction amount was Rs 2,99,78,125 but the former MLA has so far paid only Rs 1.21 crore and Rs 1,78,78,125 is yet to be paid.
Srinivasan moved the court last year and following the court direction, the police registered an FIR against Venkataswamy and three others in May, 2017. The police athered material and technical evidence from the complainant and have submitted the chargesheet to the JMFC Court in Shidlaghatta.