Beware! Rackets now offer houses they don’t possess

KOCHI: Think twice before taking a house on lease in the city without checking the owner’s background. The police have warned that there are rackets in the city that place advertisements on online platforms showing houses available on lease when these actually do not belong to them. The police unearthed the activities of one such racket when a probe was carried out into a complaint lodged by an Idukki native who took a house in the city on lease after seeing an ad and later found out that the house belonged to someone else. 

The police said Noufal Husain, 27, of Chettupara in Idukki had been duped of Rs 8 lakh by the racket which made him take the house on lease. Based on the complaint lodged by Noufal, the police registered a case against Ajith Kumar, 45, of Karyamuttom in Thrissur and Faisal, 40, and Sarath, 36, both residents of Elamakkara in Ernakulam. 

The police said though the main accused, Ajith Kumar, tried for an anticipatory bail arguing that the fraud was committed in connivance with the complainant, the sessions court refused to accept it and denied him bail. The court observed, “It is apparent from the prosecution records that the accused, who was having no right of ownership over the building, had obtained Rs 8 lakh from the complainant and put him in possession of the said building after fraudulently and dishonestly inducing him to believe that the said building belonged to him (Ajith Kumar).”

A senior police officer said, “There is a growing demand for independent houses in the city and fraudsters are targeting those who move into the city from other districts.”As per the probe, Noufal saw the advertisement on the online app put up by Sarath and contacted him. Sarath introduced Noufal to Faisal who took him to Ajith Kumar introducing Ajith as the owner of the house at Ponekkara mentioned in the ad. 

“A forged tax receipt of the house in the name of Ajith Kumar was shown to Noufal to convince him about the ownership. Noufal paid an advance amount of Rs 8 lakh through account transfer,” a police officer said, adding that the accused also forged a mortgage deed.