Realtor offered his own property on MG Road on sale

Realtor offered his own property on MG Road on sale
Farook Mahmood was presented with forged papers, complete with seal of the sub-registrar, for his four-acre plot which houses Taj Residency, Vijaya Bank, The Park and Canara Bank

Fraudulent property transactions, especially on the outskirts of the city, are dime a dozen, but prime property in the heart of the city does not appear beyond the ambit of crooks, as a leading realtor learnt.

Farook Mahmood, chairman and managing director, Silverline Realty Private Limited, the top realty firm on MG Road, was astounded when he learnt that property No. 14, MG Road, was up for sale. The more than four-acre single parcel of land at Trinity Circle houses Vijaya Bank, Taj Residency, The Park and Canara Bank and is easily one of the most prized on the tony road.

When Mahmood purchased the property in the name of Silverline Constructions Pvt Ltd owned by his family in 2006, it was much-talked about. Imagine his shock when he, the owner, learnt that the sprawling 1,88,986 sqft property was up for sale.

“A builder friend called me last week and told me that this property was in the market and asked me if I was interested in buying it,” Mahmood told Bangalore Mirror. “I was quite surprised. He said he had the documents with him, so I asked him what documents he had. He said he had an encumbrance certificate (EC) and a GPA (general power of attorney).”

The property was previously numbered 44 and earlier still 41 when MG Road was South Parade. Today, it commands a price of Rs 15,000 per sqft — around Rs 280 crore at a conservative estimate. The property is on a long lease. “I told my friend to check the EC, but the document he had didn’t have my name or my family members’ names on it,” Mahmood said. “It just had the names of the earlier owners. Even the GPA documents were in their names. I immediately realised someone had fabricated the documents and were trying a con.”

After the call, the first thing Mahmood did was to apply for an EC at the Shivajinagar sub-registrar’s office. The document, issued on August 2, contained his and his family members’ names. If there is any suspicion on the ownership of property, just apply for an encumbrance certificate, the realty man advises.

Mahmood obtained the documents from his builder friend and sent it to his lawyer who established that they were fakes although the EC contained the seal and signature of the sub-registrar.

The irony of the whole incident is not lost on Mahmood. “The best part is that I was offered my own property,” he said. “My friend had assumed that the property papers that he had were genuine since it was passed on from a swami. It is obvious that these fake property papers are being circulated in the market.” Mahmood is not sure who is behind the attempted fake deal. The property is currently out on long lease.

The outskirts of the city are a haven for fake property deals, especially apartments. In a majority of cases, the land is either on a revenue pocket or is transacted many times over using fabricated GPAs and title deeds. Buyers, unaware that the papers are fakes, are left in the lurch once the developer hands over the property to them.