Tamil Nadu: Amid I-T raids, FV Arul kin locked in property war

Chennai: He was an iconic cop in his time and still remains unparalleled in Tamil Nadu police for competence, honesty and elegance. But now it appears that the famed legacy of F.V.Arul has come under a cloud as his son and grandson are locked in a legal battle over the Egmore property where the late IG had lived.

Worse still, a large posse of tax sleuths has descended upon the premises of son Michael Arul on Boat Club Road to probe his sale of the family property--nearly nine grounds on Pantheon Road-allegedly for a grossly undervalued price to a road contractor whose multiple premises are under raid since the last three days leading to large seizures of gold and cash.

In his sale deed of July 5, Michael has shown mere Rs.10 crore as "the entire sale consideration" for the property registered by the Sub-Registrar, Periamet in favour of contractor G. Thiagarajan of KK Nagar in Chennai. Interestingly, he has shown the market value as Rs 23,82,22,735; which means he has claimed selling the property at less than 50 per cent of the market value whereas the 'actual' market value in that area would be around Rs 50 crore.

No wonder, the IT investigators felt deeply intrigued and had extensive 'sessions' with Michaelon Friday after picking up some papers from his place. They had earlier raided the premises of Thiagarajan in the city amid reports that about 50 kilos of gold and Rs 50 lakh in cash were seized, besides 'incriminating' documents that allegedly included some papers relating to Michael's transaction.

"Arul's property is in prime multi-storey zone (MSB) in the centre of Chennai. The going price there is between Rs 5.5 crore and Rs 6 crore per ground, which works out to a bandwidth of Rs 49-53 crore for the entire plot of about nine grounds. This is a clear case of gross undervaluing in the sale deed and I am sure the Income-Tax department will do the needful", said a top property consultant in the city. He requested anonymity for obvious reasons.

"The selling price for an apartment in that area is around Rs 17,000 per sq ft.; so you can well imagine how valuable Arul's property is. It's a pity that the house where the great IG had lived has become the subject matter of a tax probe now", said another consultant.

Asked whether it was alright to register such a high-valued property at less than half its guideline value and at mere 20 per cent of its market value, Periamet sub-registrar S. Karthikeyan said: "I did not take the Rs 10 crore shown as sale consideration into account while collecting the stamp duty. I charged stamp duty on the guideline value (Rs 23,82,22,735), which means I caused no loss to the government exchequer. It was entirely between the buyer and the seller what the real sale consideration had been".

Legal experts observe that the endorsements in the sale deed reveal the document  was presented well after working hours between 5.00 p.m. and 5.10 p.m. on July 5 before the sub-registrar, the inspection was completed the next day and the document released on July 7. "It is a wonder that the department acted with such speed despite in this apparently suspicious transaction, whereas the common man will be made to wait for ten days", said an expert.

Several attempts were made to get Michael's version of the 'story', without success. One of the calls made to his mobile number was answered and the man on the other side demanded to know the identity of the caller. After getting the answer, he hung up saying, "I can't talk to you now". The polite query if he was indeed Michael got no response.

There is yet another twist to this story. Michael's son David in a complaint lodged with the Egmore police inspector on July 8 had sought police protection for the property alleging that his father was trying to illegally sell it off despite his (David) having initiated injunction proceedings in the court and the Periamet sub-registrar too put on legal notice about it "as early as July 16, 2016". The complaint was filed by David's mother Jennifer Arul, the well-known TV journalist and estranged wife of Michael.

In his complaint, David claimed that the property was first settled in his favour by his grandmother Mabel Arul in a document dated 22 October 2008 but his father Michael forced her to execute a cancellation on 28 October. "As the Cancellation Deed came in much after the acceptance of the Settlement Deed, the cancellation is void in law", David said in his police complaint. It may be mentioned here that Mabel got the property as gift from her mother Sugirtham Thomas, of the famous A.V. Thomas family.