Broker tries to usurp Rs 8-crore land, held

CHENNAI : Police have arrested a real estate broker for his attempt to usurp Rs 8 crore worth property, here on Wednesday.Police said Sasurudeen of Kasaragod in Kerala owned a plot on Dr Radhakrishnan Salai in Mylapore and had expressed his wish to sell off the land. He was approached by Tony, also from Kasaragod. Tony told Sasurudeen that Manik Mohammed was interested in buying the piece of land. He said that Mohammed would give `2 crore through demand draft and the rest in cash. He showed him a DD and insisted that the land owner transferred the land. However, Sasurudeen said he would not execute the sale deed unless he met Mohammed in person.Tony said Mohammed would come for the registration of the land and would bring the cash. But Mohammed failed to turn up for registration. Tony explained that he was caught up in a business deal. Sasurudeen sent Nizad, one of his relatives, with Sathishkumar, an assistant of Tony, to collect the cash from Mohammed. After a while, Nizad called up to say that he had collected money, but Sasurudeen sensed that Nizad wasn’t talking normally. Therefore, he insisted that the sale deed would be executed soon after Nizad’s arrival, following which Tony took to his heels. He was caught and handed over to the police. Preliminary investigations revealed that Nizad was threatened at knife point to tell Sasurudeen that the money was handed over. Later, Nizad was rescued from a secluded spot with the help of police.