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Chandigarh court frames charges against 11 in Sector-37 house grab case
Journalist, suspended inspector, liquor contractor and property dealers among accused who tortured a 48-year-old man to usurp his 338 square yards house in Chandigarh between 2017 and 2019
Nearly a year after the torture of a Sector-37 resident to grab his house came to fore, a local court on Friday framed charges against the 11 accused, including a former journalist, suspended inspector, liquor contractor and property dealers.
Trial will begin on February 1 against former journalist Sanjeev Mahajan; realtor Manish Gupta and his brother Saurab Gupta; suspended Chandigarh Police inspector Rajdeep Singh; Satpal Dagar, brother of a UT deputy superintendent of police; liquor baron Arvind Singla and businessman Khalendra Singh Kadyan.
They are accused of illegally confining the victim, Rahul Mehta, 48, the only surviving heir of his family, in his house in April 2017 and forcibly transferring the general power of attorney (GPA) to their names, before abandoning him at a stud farm in Gujarat.
Ashok Arora, Shekhar and Daljit Singh, who purportedly acted as witnesses in the subsequent sale of the house, and Gurpreet Singh, who impersonated Rahul as the property owner to execute the sale, apart from since deceased bouncer Surjit, are the other accused in the case.
“The court, before framing charges, dismissed the accused’s plea to club the challans,” said public prosecutor Ashok Rohilla. The court has summoned three witnesses on February 1, when their evidence will be recorded in the case.
Had kidnapped, tortured the house owner: SIT
The special investigating team (SIT) of the Chandigarh Police had submitted seven separate challans against the accused for kidnapping and torturing Rahul to secure the GPA of his house and selling it to Manish’s brother Saurab for ₹2.9 crore in March 2019.
Sanjeev and Manish were the first to be arrested in the case on March 2, 2021, followed by Satpal on March 4 and inspector Rajdeep on March 12.
Arvind and Khalendra were booked as the property’s GPA was transferred to their names. After the GPA’s transfer, Rahul was abandoned at a stud farm in Gujarat in June 2017, before being shifted from one charitable home to another in Maharashtra, Delhi and Rajasthan, where he was finally traced. He is currently in police protection.
Never sold the house to anyone: Victim
In his statement before the court, Rahul had said he was the sole owner of the house, which he never sold to anyone. But Sanjeev, Surjit and two others forcibly entered his house and occupied the upper floor in April 2017. They assaulted him and locked him up in a room, and kept torturing and threatening to kill him, he had alleged. After forcibly securing his signature on blank papers and cheques, Surjit left him at a stud farm in Bhuj, Gujarat.
CFSL reports corroborate forgery
The reports by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) confirmed that Rahul’s signature was forged in the property’s GPA. The police had sent the documents submitted in the Estate Office, the hand writing of the accused, and bank and property papers related with the case to CFSL to check their authenticity. All CFSL reports had corroborated falsification, while investigations pointed out that forgery was done 18 times.
Court adds more sections of PC Act
In the challans, police had invoked the Prevention of Corruption (PCA) Act against Sanjeev, Manish, Rajdeep and Satpal. While framing the charges, the court added Sections 8 and 12 of the PC Act, along with Sections 13 and 7 under which the challans were filed.
Other charges included in the charge sheet are Sections 452, 331, 344, 365, 386, 419, 420, 465 467, 468, 471, 473, 464, 466, 474, 477, 166, 218, 201, 120-B and 328 of the Indian Penal Code. If convicted, the accused face imprisonment up to 10 years.
Victim, his cousin among witnesses
Police have listed 78 witnesses in the case. Among them are the victim, Rahul Mehta, and his cousin Rajiv, who is settled in the UK. There was a property dispute between Rahul and Rajiv, who had even moved the Punjab and Haryana high court. The accused had allegedly offered ₹25 lakh to Rajiv to withdraw the court case. Also among the witnesses is the victim’s tenant, who had first reported the matter to the police.
