The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Tenant turns `thief'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Tenant turns `thief'

Staff Reporter

Man arrested on charge of decamping with household articles from a fully furnished rented house

HYDERABAD: House-owners beware! Think twice before renting out your flat to strangers. A tenant who fled with all the electronic goods, furniture and other household articles from two fully furnished super deluxe flats at Alwal -- which he had taken on rent for Rs. 20,000 -- was arrested by the Cyberabad police on Monday.

Twenty-eight-year-old Rohit Sharma, introducing himself as a software engineer, approached Qumar Rizvi, the flat-owner on July 1, for two flats -- one for his family and the other for a relative.

Alwal Inspector M. Krishna Reddy said Rohit told Rizvi that he was working with a multi-national company in the city. When she asked him for three months' rent in advance, Rohit promised to pay six months' rent. He later gave a cheque for Rs. 1.20 lakhs towards advance and took the keys from her.

When the cheque bounced, he convinced an agitated Rizvi that he would issue another cheque in two days and pay Rs. 10,000 in cash. Soon, he left the flat in a hurry saying he was going to Mumbai as his grandmother was unwell, the Inspector said. When Rohit failed to return, Rizvi grew suspicious and opened the doors of the two flats with duplicate keys only to find that an air cooler, television, refrigerator, furniture and other household articles were missing.

Based on her complaint and detailed description of the `tenant', the police traced Rohit to Vikrampuri in Karkhana and arrested him.

Mr. Krishna Reddy said Rohit had sold the furniture and electronic goods to a shopkeeper at Nampally for Rs. 38,000. Rohit had committed a similar offence at Madhapur recently. Police asked flat-owners and leaseholders to be wary of strangers when renting out their property.

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Andhra Pradesh