4 held for land fraud, removing EC from dept site

CHENNAI: What began as an investigation into a fake power of attorney document led the police and Registration Department to an elaborate fraud involving three conmen and a technical staff of the department, who removed the encumbrance certificate from the website to grab a land worth Rs 75 lakh and sell it off using fake documents.

The fraud came to light after Malliga, the daughter and legal heir of Venkadasamy Naidu, complained to the Registration Department stating that one Loganathan fraudulently obtained a power of attorney for a 2,400 sqft property that her father owned at Kallikuppam in Tiruvallur district.

Based on the complaint, Registrar, Chennai district, cancelled the fake document and the same was incorporated in the Encumbrance Certificate at Villivakkam Sub-Registrar’s Office (SRO).

However, some unknown persons removed the encumbrance for the property from the website of the SRO’s Office, Villivakkam, created fake documents and sold off the property. Based on the complaint of the Registrar, Chennai, the Land Fraud Investigation Wing-1 of the CCB registered a case and initiated a detailed investigation.

During the investigation, a police team led by inspector Maru Rani of the Land Fraud Investigation wing found that Loganathan and his accomplices, AK Krishnan and Venkatesan, in connivance with an outsourced technical staff at the Registration Department named Venu removed the encumbrance of the property, concealed the cancellation of bogus power of attorney and sold the property to two persons.

After gathering evidence for the fraud, the CCB team arrested the technical staff Venu, Loganathan (60) of Puzhal, Krishnan (61) of Anna Nagar, who posed as Venkadasamy Naidu to register the fake power of attorney, and Venkatesan (45), of Puzhal.