Fake adoption deed to con Mysore Maharaja's taxidermist

New Delhi : Using a fake adoption deed, a con man defrauded Mysore Maharaja's taxidermist to stake claim of his property.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has now attached assets worth Rs 117 crores, including 70 animal trophies and rosewood furniture. A provisional order has also been issued against the con man under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Identified as Michael Flyod Eshwer, the con man is a horse trainer by profession.

The attached assets also comprise of a house on Hyder Ali Road (Abba road) in Mysuru and a coffee plantation in Kerala's Wayanad district, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said.

To be precise the total amount of attached assets is Rs 117.87 crore.

Eshwer had allegedly conned late taxidermist Edwin Joubert Van Ingen, who lived in India. According to reports, he created a "false adoption deed" in his favour and usurped the assets that were gifted by the Maharaja of Mysore to Van Ingen, the federal probe agency said.

The ED said that it had taken over the probe into the cheating and forgery case on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the Bengaluru Police's CID in 2013. 

"Eshwer created a false adoption deed in his favour and also got a false death certificate of Van Ingen, and fraudulently got the properties transferred in his name," it alleged.

He came to know about Van Ingen and the properties that were gifted to the taxidermist by the Maharaja of Mysore for his services, the ED said. “He also got to know that Van Ingen was not married and old-aged. He took advantage of this and fraudulently took possession of the properties held by Van Ingen," the agency charged.