The bulk of the accusations of real estate and rental fraud resulted from Bengaluru, where more than 100 tenants alleged that a private asset management company was cheating them of almost Rs 200 crore through their own company’s rental, lease and investment schemes.
It was perpetrated by Jonas Asset Management, registered under the Indiranagar police station, to defraud them. The case involved renters, whose homeowners allegedly told them that the company would provide them with rental homes or rental contracts with good returns on investment.
Based on tenant complaints involving their problems, this company concluded arrangements with both apartment and house owners for managing rental and lease properties. They allegedly gained renters, tenants and investors in search of a place to live in Bengaluru using online tools, the report said.
Those attempting to rent houses online were required to lease them for between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 75 lakh, the report said. Victims were also very often given the idea of investing in the product with monthly payments and long-term payoff to help finance it. It claims some local land owners received monthly interest paid out by tenants' deposits, in exchange for rent on the land. It was trustworthy enough that many tenants deposited their money into the company's deposit account, feeling a part of hope that the deals were real.
But the problems reportedly started three to four months ago when property owners found themselves receiving no rent payments from the company. Just like that, when rent payments did not transfer, landlords started calling them home and pressuring them to vacate the building, it was claimed. Tenants say they are stuck there, unable to get back the money they paid in their leases and being evicted from homes that they rented.
The victims also said there had been calls to company representatives that went unanswered. When the financial crisis hit, company officials stopped responding to calls and messages, some tenants said. The company owners, Raghavendra and Stephen, have been hit with a complaint.
It was reported that an FIR has already been registered at Indiranagar police station, but not enough has been done at the time, according to the report of the alleged victims. Due to the scale of the fraud and the staggering amount of rupees involved, the tenants have subsequently referred the investigation to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Central Crime Branch (CCB).
It is also expected that some of the victims are going to the Bengaluru Police Commissioner for further investigation into this matter. The company has said it has held on to this for some time, and it has seen a few complaints about it. It has raised eyebrows at online rental and lease fraud in real estate that is beginning to surface in Bengaluru. For each complaint filed by this ever-larger number of victims, police officials are only expected to intensify their investigation.
