ED attaches Rs 117 crore assets of horse trainer who conned Mysore Maharaja's taxidermist

Bengaluru, Nov 21: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth 117 crores, including 70 animal trophies and rosewood furniture, of a man, who allegedly cheated a British taxidermist of the Maharaja of Mysore.

The attached properties include 70 "invaluable" animal trophies, furniture made of rosewood. A house on Hyder Ali Road (Abba road) in Mysuru and a coffee plantation in Kerala's Wayanad district, worth Rs 117.87 crore.

A horse trainer based in Karnataka's Mysuru, Michael Flyod Eshwer properties were attached by ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Nazarbad police have registered an FIR based on a complaint by Late Edwin Joubert Van Ingen, the British taxidermist who worked for the Maharaja of Mysore.

According to the probe, Eshwer created false adoption deed in his favour and obtained a false death certificate of Veningen. Later, he fraudulently got the properties transferred in his name.

"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 ED charged.

"Eshwer projected the said properties as untainted and thus committed the offence of money laundering," the probe agency said.

Mysore Maharaja's taxidermist an Ingen died at the age of 101 years in 2013.