BENGALURU: A 55-year-old realtor, who allegedly threatened land owners and forcibly confiscated property documents, was arrested by Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths on Thursday. Police said that documents related to various properties worth Rs 500 crore have been seized from his house.

Mirle Varadaraju, a resident of Kengeri Satellite Town, and his associate Depot Nagaraj (40) have been arrested.Police said they received many complaints from the public about Varadaraju harassing them by forcibly taking their land documents. Based on these complaints, CCB sleuths raided his house at 5th Main Road in Kengeri Satellite Town and the premises of his associates Nagaraj, Deepak and rowdysheeter Lakshmana on Thursday morning. At Varadaraju’s house, police found an almirah filled with hundreds of documents related to various residential properties.

“Varadaraju and his associates approached people who had property disputes on the pretext of settling their cases. They took their property documents claiming that they have to verify them. After that, they never returned the documents and instead forced these people to sell their land to them at a price much lower than the market value. For those who did not budge, rowdy Lakshmana used to threaten them,” a police officer said.

An officer said, “There are lapses by the police in investigating cases against him. In a case registered in Annapurneshwarinagar, police have filed a chargesheet mentioning that the accused is absconding. In another case, Varadaraju is not named an accused in the FIR though the complainant has mentioned his name. A report will be submitted to the police commissioner in this regard.”

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar said Varadaraju, who hails from Srirangapatna, has 25 criminal cases against him in Annapurneshwarinagar, Jnana Bharathi, Kengeri and Rajarajeshwarinagar police stations. Besides, he is also attending court for 80 civil dispute cases. “Public hesitates to complain against land grabbers as they use rowdy elements to issue threats. People should come forward and file formal complaints in police stations or with CCB,” a police officer said.

“Varadaraju and his family members have 15 accounts in various banks. We will write to the banks concerned to freeze those accounts. Documents pertaining to properties worth around `500 crore and three cars, including a Mercedes Benz, have been seized,” Kumar added.The police are on the lookout for Lakshmana and Deepak, who are absconding.