Thiruvananthapuram | Police have registered a case against RSP leader Shibu Baby John, his family members and a builder for allegedly cheating a person by promising to construct and handover an apartment at Kadakampally here, officials said on Friday.
The Thiruvananthapuram Medical College police registered the case on January 10, based on a complaint lodged by K Alex (65), a resident of Pearl Nagar, Parttukonam, Ulloor.
According to the FIR, the accused are Midhun Kuruvilla, managing director of Anta Builders, Annamma Baby John, Shaji Baby John, Shibu Baby John, Reetha Shaji John, Annie Mathew John and Sheela James.
John is a senior leader of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), an ally of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).
He had earlier served as a minister in a UDF government.
John is also likely to contest the upcoming Assembly election from the Chavara constituency in Kollam district.
The FIR said Anta Builders, after promising to construct and deliver an apartment to the complainant, received Rs 2 lakh through a bank transaction on October 9, 2020, and later took a cheque for Rs 13 lakh on November 21, 2020 from him.
It further said an agreement was signed on November 19, 2020, with all the accused as signatories, assuring completion and handover of the apartment by August 2022 to the complainant.
The case has been registered under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
Police officials said the builder had entered into an agreement with John and his family to develop apartments on their land, with a share of the profit to be given to them.
As the land belonged to John and his family, they were also parties to the agreement executed with the apartment buyers. However, construction could not be completed, and several buyers have yet to receive refunds of the advance amounts, police said.
Reacting to the case, John told a television news channel that neither he nor his family had received any money and that they, too, are aggrieved by the project.
He said the work stopped after the builder ran into some issues and that they did not know the complainant or take any money from him.
He added that the complaint should have been addressed before the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act authority.
John said the dispute between the builder and contractors over construction of the project is pending before the court for the past two years.
He said they wanted the builder to hand over the project to a new developer and ensure that the advances paid by the buyers were settled.
John also claimed that the complainant had earlier approached the police, but no case was registered at that time due to the nature of the complaint.
"With elections nearing, the case was registered under pressure, and we came to know about it only a few days ago. Police had no clear answer about the reasons for registering a case now," he said.
Police officials said the investigation was at a preliminary stage and statements of the accused, including the builder and John and his family members, would be recorded.
