Conman claiming to be Chief Minister’s right-hand arrested in Bangalore

The Bangalore police have arrested a 42-year-old conman, who had cheated several site-aspirants, particularly NRIs, by masquerading as the Chief Minister’s “right-hand” man.

Police said the accused K Sundara Subramanian, also known as Maniyan, had duped several including NRIs and businessmen of more than Rs 250 million by promising to secure them residential and industrial sites under the Chief Minister’s discretionary quota.

Maniyan, a former employee of Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL), ran a real estate agency at the up-market Church Street, spoke fluent English, moved around in high-end cars and led a lavish life-style.

Assistant Commissioner of Police B K Shivaram told reporters that Maniyan would collect money from his victims after making them sign applications for allotment of sites from the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) under the discretionary quota. He even used to provide them with not only fake bank receipts for payments made to the BDA, but also fake allotment letters and possession certificates.

The victims would learn about the fraud only when they approached the BDA or other agencies for licenses to begin construction on their “allotted” sites. Even after the government agencies told the victims that the documents in their possession were fake as the sites had never been allotted, Maniyan would assure his clients that he would speak to the concerned authorities and set things right.

But, Maniyan’s luck ran out when one of his victims lodged a complaint with the police after he was duped of Rs 3.7 million. The cheat had apparently collected money from the victim promising him residential sites in Koramangala and Indiranagar.

The police arrested Maniyan and preliminary investigations had revealed that he had cheated several people of at least Rs 250 million during the last ten years. He had also collected Rs 12 million from one Subhash Sharma, a resident of Bangalore and Rs 6 million from Chandrashekar, a resident of Mumbai.

“What has come out so far is only the tip of an iceberg. The accused had cheated many more people in a similar fashion. The victims can lodge complaints with the police”, Shivaram said.

Meanwhile, the police is on the look-out for Maniyan’s estranged wife Radha, who had allegedly collected huge sums of money from unsuspecting site-aspirants.