Mother, daughter held for Rs 31.5 lakh rental fraud in RK Nagar

CHENNAI: Two women have been arrested for allegedly cheating five tenants of Rs 31.5 lakh by renting out a house in RK Nagar that was already mortgaged to a private bank.

According to police, the complainant Rajesh (31) had taken a house in Korukkupet on lease for Rs 4 lakh from February 2025.

On June 15, officials from a private bank arrived and sealed the house, stating that the owner had mortgaged it for Rs 59 lakh and had defaulted on repayment and hence the property was being attached. Rajesh then found that the owner and his family had collected lease amounts from four other tenants in the same building in a similar manner.

Based on his complaint, RK Nagar Police registered a case and began investigations. Probe revealed that the property owners, Venkatesan, his wife Deepika (31) of Arivoli Nagar, Coimbatore, and her mother Maheshwari (53) knew that the property was liable to be attached for non-payment of loan, but still rented out five portions of the house to five persons, including Rajesh, and had collected Rs 31.5 lakh as lease amount before absconding.

Police arrested mother and daughter, and recovered Rs 3 lakh cash from them. They were produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody. Search is on for Venkatesan, who is absconding.