Chennai: Taking serious note of repeated instances of fraud wherein house owners are cheated by middlemen who give away the houses on usufructuary mortgage to third parties and run away with the lease amount, Madras high court has directed the DGP to take steps to control such offences.
Justice AD Jagadish Chandira, detailing the modus operandi of the crime, said such middlemen would approach house owners under the guise of taking their property on lease and later subject it to usufructuary mortgage to third parties without the knowledge of the owner.
It came to light through a report filed by the police that 65 crore has been cheated through such crime in Chennai, Avadi and Tambaram commissionerate since 2013 and none of the reported cases have reached finality.
According to the report, 40 cases are pending in Chennai involving 67 victims who had been cheated for 7 crore. In Tambaram nine cases are reported in which 342 victims are cheated to the tune of 13 crore.
In Avadi four cases are filed involving 20 victims who are cheated 2 crore. This apart, 4 cases have been registered by the Economic Offences Wing involving 1,020 victims cheated to the tune of 41 crore, the report said.
“From the modus operandi, this court is able to see that the accused, after receiving the money from the gullible victims, have projected the case as if it is a case of civil nature and are attempting to escape from the clutches of penal law,” Justice Jagadish Chandira said.
“Further, this court finds that since there seems to be no proper understanding of law, cases registered in the year 2013 have not resulted in filing of final reports,” he added.
“This court also feels that if the details relating to cases of similar nature pending in Chengalpet, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur District and other two-tier cities are collected, the number of victims and the amount involved will certainly be exorbitant,” the judge said.
The court then suo motu impleaded the DGP and directed him to take appropriate steps to curb the offence.
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