Case booked after Court directive; documents in order, say Police

Mysore/Mysuru: A case has been registered at the Metagalli Police Station against four persons on charges of cheating an illiterate senior citizen of her property by fabricating documents.

The case has been booked under the direction of the Court and four persons have been accused of transferring the elderly  lady’s property to their names without her knowledge. While 62-year-old Sharadamma, a resident of Veerannagere, is the victim in the case, her husband’s sister 70-year-old Lakshmamma, Lakshmamma’s 50-year-old son Lokesh, daughter 40-year-old Poornima and a relative 66-year-old Bhagyamma are the accused.

Sharadamma owns 2-acre, 12 gunta of land at Kalasthavadi village under Survey Number 145/5 and wanted to sell 32-gunta land due to a financial need. As she was illiterate and had no knowledge about documentation and procedures, the accused offered to help her and Sharadamma agreed.

Land actually sold for Rs. 18 lakh

The accused allegedly sold the said 32-gunta to one John for Rs. 18 lakh and told Sharadamma that the land was sold for Rs. 12 lakh and handed over Rs. 10 lakh cash and told her that they would return the remaining Rs. 2 lakh later. They hid the fact that the land was indeed sold for a higher amount.

After some months, Sharadamma once met John who told her that he had actually bought 32-gunta land for Rs. 18 lakh and not for Rs. 12 lakh. Taken aback by this revelation, when Sharadamma asked one of her other acquaintances to check the property papers, it came to light that while transferring the 32-gunta land to John on Feb. 7, 2011, Lokesh had also transferred 1.20-acre land owned by Sharadamma to his name without her knowledge.

When confronted, the accused threatened Sharadamma with filthy language and also threatened to kill her. Having no other alternative, Sharadamma approached the Court of law with the help of an advocate and filed a case. Following Court directions, the FIR has now been registered.

Metagalli SI clarifies

Metagalli Sub-Inspector Kiran Arjun Hanchiholi told Star of Mysore this morning that the case dates back to 2011 and it is an instance of a relationship growing sour. “Sharadamma had come to the Metagalli Police Station twice with her advocate and alleged that she had been cheated by her relatives. In fact, it was Sharadamma who divided the property and gave a part to Lokesh and the documents she produced proves this,” he said.

“The documents showed the Police that there have been no fraudulent transactions and during our discussion with Sharadamma and her advocate, she admitted that she had given a part of her property at Kalasthavadi to Lokesh and after bequeathing the property, she realised that there is no one to take care of her during her old age. We summoned Sharadamma’s relatives and asked them to settle the issue amicably within the family,” the Sub-Inspector said.

Documents in order

However, there was no cordial agreement between the family members and the relationship turned from bad to worse, he said. “We double-checked the documents and there was no fraud involved here. But Sharadamma’s advocate insisted that a case be registered. We can book a case only if there is fraud otherwise even the Police will be chastised by the Court. While the advocate insisted that Sharadamma was cheated, the documents said otherwise,” the Sub-Inspector explained.

Meanwhile, the advocate filed a private complaint in the Court seeking directions to register a case against Sharadamma’s four relatives. “We have registered an FIR following the Court directive and we will again investigate the case. The Police will submit the investigation report to the Court,” Kiran Arjun Hanchiholi added.