CHENNAI: Besides effecting seizure of more property in the case relating to the alleged cheating of building contractors by Yobu Saravanan of Vellore, the State's Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) has launched a hunt for the trustees of a trust in connection with the offence.

More information relating to the money collected from contractors is likely to surface once the wanted persons are interrogated, a CB-CID official told The Hindu .

After arresting Saravanan who started the trust and another trust member, Rajendran, on December 6, the special unit took Saravanan into its custody. Interrogation led to the recovery of four cars, cash and jewellery. The alleged offence was committed over the last one-and-a-half years.

Documents in custody

Besides documents relating to the 175 acres of land, which were seized by the CB-CID after the arrest of the two persons, the special unit had now in its custody documents relating to 33 cents of land on East Coast Road, near Puducherry and a piece of land measuring 4,400 square feet in Vellore town.

The CB-CID had earlier seized two cars, cash totalling Rs. 1.13 lakh and four television sets. The allegation was that Saravanan had totally collected Rs. 12 crore. The extent of investments made after collecting the money was not fully known, sources said adding that more details could be obtained by securing the wanted persons.

Three cases

The CB-CID now had three cases and nearly 165 petitions for investigation as against 3 cases and 37 petitions when the matter was transferred from the Chennai city Central Crime Branch.

Yobu Saravanan, it was alleged, had told building contractors that he had intended to construct houses for the poor, free of cost, with funds collected from abroad.

He entered into an agreement with them, collecting Rs. 2,000 for a house as deposit.

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