A brick kiln owner, who swindled three unsuspecting Ranchi residents of Rs 25 lakh since 2012 on the pretext of selling a prime plot at throwaway price, was nabbed on Wednesday, more than a year after a court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against him.

Rizwan Ansari (40), a resident of Bargain in Bariatu where he owns 94 decimal (almost an acre) land, besides the brick unit, was caught on a tip-off while he was scouting for his fourth victim in Jagannathpur. He was produced in court, remanded in judicial custody for 14 days and taken away to Birsa Munda Central Jail in Hotwar.

According to Jagannathpur thana OC N.K. Singh, one of Ansari's victims took the lid off the con. Madhukar Singh, a resident of Jagannathpur, had moved Ranchi civil courts after Ansari cheated him of Rs 8.50 lakh in 2013 in the name of selling the land. The price of one decimal land of residential nature is around Rs 2.26 lakh. The court issued an arrest warrant against Ansari, a resident of Sadar thana area, in 2014.

"The court directed police to investigate allegations and lodge a regular case. The allegations were found to be true and an FIR was lodged in October 2014 under Sections 420 (fraud), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 467 (forging of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 419 (cheating through impersonation), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC," the officer said.

OC Singh said before Madhukar, Ansari had signed sale agreements with Kamal Agrawal of Gosai Tola, Chutia, and Kumud Prasad, a resident of HEC Township, in 2012.

"Ansari duped Kamal into paying Rs 6.50 lakh while Kumud had paid him Rs 10 lakh as advance. But, the man never transferred the land to them. After Madhukar saw through his plan, Ansari began threatening him, following which the FIR was lodged," the officer added.

On whether any criminal cases were pending against Ansari, OC Singh said they were procuring details about him from other police stations.