E-Paper
After Dera Bassi, fake NOCs found in Lalru, registries in Zirakpur under scanner
As per a report submitted by the Lalru executive officer (EO), 26 NOCs submitted for property registration were found to be fake.
Days after a fake no-objection certificate (NOC) scam for property registration was unearthed in Dera Bassi, authorities have discovered similar fraudulent undertakings in Lalru and Zirakpur as well.
As per a report submitted by the Lalru executive officer (EO), 26 NOCs submitted for property registration were found to be fake.
In Zirakpur, sources said, at least 125 fake NOCs have been detected so far.
“Over 3,500 NOCs and registries are under scanner. Out of the 900 NOCs have already been scrutinised, of which 125 were found to be forged. Two officials are checking all the NOCs in Zirakpur following which, the EO will submit a detailed report. After that, we will lodge a formal complaint with the police for registration of case,” a senior administrative officer said.
When asked about the loophole which created a fertile ground for such a scam, a senior police officer said, “The QR codes of real NOCs too don’t take people to the official e-naksha portal. On scanning the code, the user only gets info like the latitude and longitude coordinates. In the absence of security features, it is very easily replicable. A hologram or perhaps a QR Code leading to the e-naksha portal would have been a better approach.”
The officer added that the public should be made aware of the e-naksha portal and the need to verify if plot regularisation certificate, i.e. NOC, has been granted to the plot they are buying. In the absence of an NOC, they won’t be able to get the registry done.
“It seems that bona fide buyers were not aware of the fake NOCs and it was the people involved in the nexus who have created trouble for them. Buyers can also physically go to the EO or MC office concerned to get their NOCs verified so they don’t land in soup,” a senior officer said.
2 more nominated in Dera Bassi case
On Tuesday, police arrested two persons, including a builder and a deed writer, in the case.
The accused were identified as Gulshan Kumar, 50, a builder, residing in Roni Mohalla of Dera Bassi, and Suresh Kumar, 60, a deed writer, of Pahari Gate, Dera Bassi.
According to sources, it was established that 77 of the 175 fake NOCs were prepared by Gulshan, for which no entries were found in official records. Suresh Kumar was arrested on the basis of Gulshan’s disclosure.
The matter had come to the fore after Dera Bassi MC’s executive officer had alerted the police about the possible racket after getting a complaint from Sumit Gupta, personal assistant of the Dera Bassi MLA, on September 6. It was found that a property was registered on August 10, for which an NOC was submitted, though the Dera Bassi MC had no records of it.
On September 18, the EO asked for details of all property registrations done by Dera Bassi MC this year.
During verification of 815 properties registered between January 1 and August 31, it was found that 169 online NOCs were fake, apart from four fake online maps and two offline permits. Later, the fake NOC numbers rose to 175. Police investigation had then revealed that in a few cases, a common NOC was attached with multiple registries.
Dera Bassi police registered a case under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (fraudulently using a document as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Notably, suspecting that the magnitude of the scam may be larger, the Mohali police constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising superintendent of police (SP, headquarters) Jyoti Yadav, deputy superintendent of police Darpan Kaur Ahluwalia and Dera Bassi station house officer (SHO) Ajitesh.
