Trinethra Infra inflated property value to get loan

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad-based real estate firm Trinethra Infra Ventures Limited allegedly inflated the value of two properties which it had pledged as collateral security to obtain a loan of Rs 15 crore from the Industrial Finance Corporation of India.

Days after the CBI registered cases against the firm, its managing director and other directors for cheating the non-banking finance company, the agency has initiated a probe based on a complaint from the latter. IFCI officials have submitted details of how the Trinethra Infra management duped it.

The two properties that Trinethra Infra had pledged as surety are: land at Nelamangala taluk in Bengaluru district, which was mortgaged by Ambica Rama Sudershan; and 6,000-sq yard land at Eluru of West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, which was mortgaged by Trinethra Infra Ventures Ltd.

In its complaint, IFCI had stated that N Ventakesh and Associates, who had valued the Bengaluru property at Rs 15.62 crore and Rs 14.05 crore as fair market value (FMV) and distress sale value (DSV) in March 2011, valued the same in April 2013 at Rs 267.75 lakh FMV and Rs 214.20 lakh DSV. Similarly, the valuation for the land in AP by DSK Avadhani in February 2011 was Rs 903 lakh FMV and Rs 723 lakh DSV, which fell to Rs 360 lakh FMV and Rs 324 lakh DSV, according to a report submitted by Soham Consultants in March 2013. 

When IFCI initiated their sale, the Member of Asset Sale Committee was informed by one of the bidders that the Bengaluru property has been classified as agricultural land. This means, it cannot be converted into residential or industrial categories. It was also found that the Karnataka government had notified the entire area as a ‘catchment area’ where no construction activity can be carried out. 

But in the valuation report submitted by N Venkatesh and Associates to IFCI, the property has been categorised as ‘converted residential’ land.  “While submitting the title investigation report, it is the duty of the advocate appointed to ascertain that no order/circular of such nature exists. This results in a defective title and/or also that the same can be enforced by the secured creditor,” the IFCI officials have stated in their complaint to the CBI.