Chennai: Arrested for usurping property of absentee owner and duping him of Rs 27 lakh

Chennai: The police of the Royapettah police station have arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly forging documents, illegally occupying a woman’s property and fraudulently renting it out to her while he was abroad, duping her of over Rs 27 lakh. The accused has been identified as KP Ashok, a resident of Triplicane. The case came to light following a complaint filed by Perungudi resident Sara Wahab, who owns a building on Gowdiya Matha Road in Royapettah. According to her complaint, her property has three shops on the ground floor, while there are a total of four residential units on the first and second floors. Sara said she lived in the building till 2018 before moving to Saudi Arabia with her parents. At that time, only one shop was running on the ground floor, which was run as a photo studio by a man named Pullarao; the rest of the property was locked. Due to travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic, she could not return to India until 2022. On their return, they found that Pullarao had passed away and his son Ashok had taken over the studio. Surprisingly, he had also broken the locks of the vacant shops and apartments. Ashok allegedly pretended to be the real owner of the entire building, forged property documents and rented out the same to several tenants by taking huge advance payments, pocketing around Rs 27 lakh. When Sara questioned him about the fraud, Ashok allegedly threatened to kill her. Fearing for her safety, she stayed in Perungudi for some time and later lodged a formal complaint with the police. Following an investigation by a team led by an inspector of Royapettah police station, which confirmed the allegations, a case was registered. Ashok was arrested on August 20, 2025. After interrogation, the accused was produced in court on Thursday and has been sent to judicial custody.