M Thangaraj COIMBATORE: Rathinapuri police in Coimbatore city arrested a realtor on Saturday for cheating more than 35 people to the tune of Rs 70 lakhs. The police seized a luxury car from him. The arrested person was identified as M Thangaraj, 61, from Varanasipalayam Pirivu in Tirupur district.
Police said Thangaraj ran a real estate firm in the name of Gokulam Gardens at Tatabad, Irugur, and a few more areas in Coimbatore over the last two decades. The firm announced various monthly instalment schemes to the investors to buy lands in and around Coimbatore, Tirupur, and Erode districts. Thousands of people joined the monthly schemes, and he registered the properties in the investors' names earlier.
Thangaraj gave advertisements in newspapers and on social media about the property sales under various instalment schemes. M Prasannakumari, 44, from Cheran Maa Nagar in Coimbatore city, her elder brother Rajendran, and a few more people joined the monthly instalment schemes to buy land at Neelipalayan near Punjai Puliyampatti in Erode district in 2012. Prasannakumari paid Rs 3.
71 lakhs to the Gokulam Garden real estate firm. However, the firm failed to register the property in her name and did not return the invested amount. As many as 35 victims lodged complaints worth Rs 70 lakhs with Rathinapuri police inspector A Ibrahim Badhusha.
The police registered a case against Thangaraj under sections 406 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code on Friday. The police arrested Thangaraj on Sa.