A enterprising man duped a real estate firm and four men of lakhs of rupees in an elaborate rent-an-apartment scam at Marathahalli. The fraud came to light on Tuesday when one of the victims, Jagannath H.B., approached the police on Tuesday to lodge a cheating complaint.
Jagannath runs a real estate firm on ITPL Main Road. A few months ago, he was approached by a man who introduced himself as Mohammed Abdul Raheem. He claimed to be a soft-skill trainer at a multinational firm and in urgent need of a flat.
After seeing a couple of apartments, Raheem selected one flat in Marathahalli. In August this year, he paid Jagannath ₹96,000 upfront as rent for two months and took possession of the flat. He told the realtor that he would be using the flat to teach students and would, at times, provide them with accommodation in the flat itself.
Meanwhile, the realtor prepared the rental agreement and kept calling Raheem, but would be told to wait owing to his busy schedule. After two months, Jagannath called Raheem for the third month’s rent, but his phone was not reachable.
When repeated attempts failed, he went to the flat. He found four men there. At first, he thought they were students, but later realised that Raheem had rented the apartment to the men who were employees of a private firm.
“He had taken ₹2 lakh from them and also advance rent of three months to the tune of ₹1.2 lakh,” said the police.
The police are on the lookout for Raheem. “We suspect that the accused had given a fake name and identify,” said the police.