Mysuru: A man and his wife who had approached the District Legal Services Authority for justice are in the dock now for submitting an altered document to represent their case in an attempt to get justice in their favour. While the accused Lokanath Gowda has been arrested, his wife P. Jayalakshmi is absconding. The couple had some time back approached C. Mahesh Gowda, to purchase his house at Hebbal First Stage for Rs. 13 lakh. Jayalakshmi had entered into an agreement with Mahesh Gowda and as per the agreement, Rs. 2 lakh was paid to landlord Mahesh Gowda.

The couple had also agreed to pay the outstanding amount that Mahesh Gowda had to pay Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and the remaining amount was to be paid by the couple to Mahesh Gowda at the time of registering the property, the agreement stated.

After some time, Jayalakshmi and Lokanath Gowda approached the District Legal Services Authority with a complaint that Mahesh Gowda was not willing to register his property and flouted the agreement. While filing their complaint, they had attached a receipt for payment of a cheque of Rs. 1,52,700 that was paid to MUDA on behalf of Mahesh Gowda.

Following the complaint, the District Legal Services Authority issued a notice to Mahesh Gowda and asked him to appear before it for hearing. Mahesh Gowda then brought to the notice of the Authority that some corrections were made in the MUDA receipt and he was asked to approach the MUDA to examine and authenticate the receipt.

When Mahesh Gowda went to MUDA, it came to light that Jayalakshmi and Lokanath Gowda had actually paid Rs. 52,700 and obtained a receipt for the same amount. They later added numerical ‘1’ in the receipt to make the amount look like it is Rs. 1,52,700 and presented it to the District Legal Services Authority in order to mislead it. Mahesh Gowda told the Authority that the couple, by altering the receipt amount, had tried to cheat him and their intention was to extract money from him. Finding that the couple had indeed altered the receipt amount, the Legal Services Authority ordered the Ashokpuram Police to book a case against Lokanath Gowda and his wife Jayalakshmi. The Police have now arrested Lokanath while Jayalakshmi is absconding.