Chennai: Tenant cheats owner, forges property document in own name – Times of India

CHENNAI: A woman in her eighties was nearly cheated out of her home, valued at 40 lakh, and 8 lakh in cash by a tenant who wormed his way into her confidence.
The woman Saroja, 81, lived in Chembarambakkam after her retirement from the postal department and rented out several houses she owned in the area. One of her tenants Munusamy alias Stephen, who stayed with his family, befriended the elderly woman over the course of a couple of years, offering to help her at every turn. The woman came to consider him family and even entrusted him with any money she wanted deposited in her account, police said.
Police said Saroja was shocked when recently a team of revenue officials visited her house to survey the property. They informed her that the property was registered in the name of Stephen as she had sold it to him. Based on the request of the land owner Stephen, the officials said, that they had come to survey the land.
Saroja informed her two daughters, who live elsewhere in the city, and lodged a complaint at the Nazarethpet police station against Stephen. Police found Stephen had forged documents to encroach on her property valued at around 40 lakh.
Further investigations revealed that Stephen had also swindled about 8 lakh from the senior citizen – this was the money she had given him on several occasions to deposit in her bank account. Police registered a case and arrested Stephen for cheating the woman. He was remanded in prison.