Anna Nagar couple, finance manager arrested in ₹21-crore mortgage fraud
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Chennai Police has arrested three persons — a couple and a manager of a private housing finance company — for allegedly defrauding a lender of ₹21 crore by manipulating mortgage documents.
The accused have been identified as Devendran, 51, and his wife Sasikala, 43, residents of Anna Nagar, and R.G. Harinath Karthik, 51, of Perungudi, who was the branch manager of Repco Home Finance Limited's Anna Nagar office at the time of the alleged offence.
According to police, the couple had obtained two mortgage loans totalling ₹3 crore from Repco Home Finance in 2016, submitting original documents of eight properties as collateral. A portion of the loan, amounting to ₹2.26 crore, was still outstanding when Karthik allegedly issued a fake receipt showing the loan was fully repaid and cancelled the mortgage. The fraud came to light during an internal audit by senior officials of the finance company.
The couple then allegedly took back the original property documents and pledged them with another private bank to secure a loan of ₹21 crore, police said.
A case was registered by the CCB based on a complaint from M. Vijayakumar, legal assistant manager at Repco Home Finance, filed with the Chennai Police Commissioner on July 8.
Police also said the couple is facing two other cheating cases involving amounts totalling ₹9.19 crore.
Investigations are ongoing to determine the full extent of the fraud and to trace the funds obtained through the alleged illegal pledge of the property documents.
