CHENNAI: Expressing shock over fraudsters taking houses for rent and mortgaging them to third parties for huge sums of money unbeknownst to the actual owners, the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the DGP to take action to prevent such offences.
The fraud came to the notice of the court while dealing with a petition filed by one of the victims, K Kanagaraj, seeking to cancel the bail given to an accused, Ramalingam, who had cheated him by taking his house for rent and then mortgaging it.
Justice AD Jagadish Chandira noted that the status report filed by the government advocate in the matter reveals that houses were taken under the guise of a lease and later subjected to ‘usufructuary mortgage’ with third parties without the knowledge of the owner for huge amounts of money.
Details submitted by the government advocate show that 40 such cases are pending in the jurisdiction of Greater Chennai Police where 67 victims have been affected, with over Rs 7 crore involved; nine such cases in the Tambaram commissionerate with 34 victims involving Rs 13 crore, while Avadi commissionerate accounts for four pending cases with 20 victims involving a total of Rs 2 crore, the judge stated. The Economic Offences Wing has also registered four cases involving 1,020 victims involving a whopping Rs 41 crore. The total amount involved in the cases comes up to Rs 65.58 crore, the judge noted. Even though the cases have been pending since 2013, no charge sheet was filed.
The judge added that the amount of money cheated would be much higher if the details of similar cases pending in Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts are collected. Suo motu impleading the Director General of Police, Justice Jagadish Chandira directed the official to take steps to curb such crimes.