A civil contractor with the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) got the shock of his life when he realised that his neighbour had cheated him of Rs 5.5 lakh.

K Srinivas had purchased a plot of land from his neighbour N Adhisheshan for Rs 5.5 lakh in April this year. He was halfway through constructing his house on it, when officials of the Bangalore Co-operative Bank Ltd in Chamraj Peth met him on Saturday and ordered him to stop the work.

Rude shock

They claimed that Adhisheshan had submitted its original documents to them when he mortgaged it for a loan of Rs 5 lakh. The bank had now taken over the land.

"I tried to explain to the bank officials that the house is mine and showed them the property documents which had been endorsed by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike. But the officials stated the documents were fake and the bank has the original ones," Srinivas said.

When Srinivasan went to ask Adisheshan about the matter, he refused to comment and later, he and his family members locked the house and went missing.

Srinivas finally approached the police and filed a cheating complaint against Adisheshan. "I invested Rs 5.5 lakh on buying the land and an equal amount on the construction of my house. This is my hard earned money and I will not give up this easily," he said.

The central police investigating the case are on the lookout for Adhisheshan. "We will take necessary action
once he is traced," a police official said.