Police arrested six members of a gang led by a 29-year-old woman, who operated a fake plot selling racket in the city, said the Bengaluru South Police on Wednesday.
The police have recovered gold ornaments valued at Rs 16.83 lakh and three cars worth Rs 35 lakh from the gang’s possession.
According to the police, the gang’s modus operandi was that they used to identify a vacant site on the outskirts of the city where site prices were extremely high but situated in isolated areas.
“Once they identified ‘their site’, they would fabricate false documents in the name of one of their gang members to prove that the site was owned by that member. In the third phase, one of the gang members posing as a real estate agent would identify a gullible investor looking for a plot at a ‘cheaper value’. This was followed by two of the gang members posing as husband and wife and on the pretext of selling ‘their property’ in distress would negotiate for the deal,” the police said.
The police claimed that the gullible investors used to believe them instantaneously, especially the husband and wife who were apparently trying to sell their property in distress.
“Gullible investors applied for a loan from the bank and the bank after verifying documents used to give high-value loans. Impersonating as ‘plot sellers’, the gang would accept an amount and disappear,” the police added.
According to the police, the accused have been identified as 29-year-old Keerthana Shekhar, Shekhar (36), Pavan Kumar B.R. aka Pavan aka Michel D’Souza (36), Prajwal Ramaiah, Umamahesh Rao (41), and Jayprakash.M (39).
The police said all the accused barring Pavan, worked in different real estate firms and were ace businessmen. Pavan is a bank loan agent who guided the gang about the rules and regulations.
A case of forgery and fraud was lodged on December 21, 2020, against the gang by a Bengali couple Chakravarthy Nandu Pandu and Rutira Devi Chakravarthy when the original owner of the site had started construction work.
“The couple who had purchased the plot argued with the original owners and then the case was booked and the gang was arrested,” the police claimed.
The police have registered a case and are investigating how many plots the gang had sold in a similar manner.
