Friday, February 19, 2010

JBJ City Developers held in Bangalore for land scam

A city-based real estate developer was arrested by the Bangalore police in connection with a Rs 20-crore scam in Tamil Nadu and a Rs 7-crore land scam in Bangalore. Officials of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of the Bangalore police arrested Manivannan, director of Chennai-based JBJ City Developers.Bangalore police commissioner Shankar Bidari handed over the case to the CCB, which found that the company had cheated people of Rs 7 crore in Bangalore and more than Rs 20 crore in Tamil Nadu.

JBJ City Developers having its corporate office in Chennai and having branches all over Tamilnadu, collected several lakhs from people and cheated them by not registering land and also not giving back their money. Instead they supplied several cheques, which bounced consequently.

The case came to light when people complained that JBJ City Developers had collected money for land and then failed to allot plots. When the customers approached, the management allegedly threatened them. Bangalore police arrested Manivannan, director of Chennai-based JBJ City Developers on wednesday. The Bangalore police earlier arrested Shivakumar S, director, Justin Devadoss, chairman and MD of the company, and another person. The police recovered Rs 10 lakh and other documents from them but Manivannan was absconding.

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Tamil Nadu police commenced investigations into the multicrore fraud last week. More than 1,000 victims thronged the EOW office to file their complaints. Almost all the victims shared the same story of being sold a dream of owning land without paying much money.

Shalem, who worked as an executive for JBJ said, “They promised us 10% commission if we promoted the investment schemes among locals,”. The city police commissioner’s office and the suburban police commissioner’s office in Chennai had received a number of complaints from people who were cheated by the company. With the arrest of Manivannan, the police have finally managed to bust a racket that came to light five months ago.

Source: Times of India