Lawyer arrested for forgery
Delhi police have arrested a lawyer for allegedly cheating one of his colleagues by forging his signature and transferring flats in his name, reports Ravi Bajpai.
Delhi police have arrested a lawyer practising at the Tees Hazari court complex in north Delhi for allegedly cheating one of his colleagues by forging his signature and transferring flats in his name.
Sanjay Kumar Singhal was arrested and sent to five days’ judicial custody on Saturday, after lawyer Sanjeev Saxena accused him of illegally taking over four flats Saxena owned in Haridwar, police said.
“Singhal basically helped a businessman living in Civil Lines who orchestrated the entire crime. The businessman is absconding. Both of them forged the property papers and transferred Saxena’s flats to their names,” said an officer of the Subzi Mandi police station, where a case of cheating and forgery was registered.
It was in fact a long drawn fight that led to Singhal’s arrest later. Saxena had taken Singhal and the businessman to court a few months back over the fraud, said an officer. The complainant and the accused signed a Memorandum of Understanding to settle the fight.
“It was decided that the businessman would pay the victim Rs 7,51,000 and Singhal would shell out Rs 5 lakh to settle the account,”said an officer.
The agreement soon went haywire. Singhal’s cheque worth Rs 51,000, issued to pay off the dues, bounced and the other accused made a stop-payment request for the cheque, worth Rs 2,000 issued in favour of Saxena, said a police officer.
While Singhal’s relatives could not be contacted for their version, the Bar Association of Delhi, which usually takes parallel action against such defaulting lawyers, said they hadn’t received any such complaint yet.
“I haven’t heard of such a case till now and will take due action whenever it comes to our notice,” said KK Manan, chairman of the Bar Association of Delhi.