Three members of a family have been booked for allegedly forging papers to grab 15 kanals and 16 marlas of land belonging to a man having mental illness, Sadar police said on Thursday. The accused forged the property sale agreement using blank stamp papers obtained from the victim as security for a loan, officials said.
The case, registered at the Sadar police station following an inquiry, centres on allegations that the accused fabricated documents and financial transactions to establish a false claim over the valuable land in Malkpur Bet.
The accused have been identified as Kamal Parkash Goel, Kanav Goel and Geetu Goel, all residents of Sukhmani Enclave on Canal Road, Ludhiana. The FIR follows an inquiry into a complaint filed by Narjit Kaur, who alleged that her son Ravinder Singh was cheated because of his mental health condition.
According to the inquiry findings cited in the FIR, Ravinder Singh and his wife Sandeep Kaur had borrowed money on interest from Kamal Parkash Goel and his brother Ajay Kumar Goel in 2015 to meet household expenses. During the loan arrangement, the accused allegedly obtained signatures on two blank stamp papers.
The inquiry mentioned that these blank papers were subsequently used to prepare an agreement to sell Ravinder Singh’s 15 kanals and 16 marlas of land in Malkpur Bet. The complainant maintained that her son had never agreed to sell the property and was not mentally fit to understand or execute such a transaction. The inquiry report noted that his mental disability had been assessed at 50% by the civil surgeon.
{{/usCountry}}The inquiry mentioned that these blank papers were subsequently used to prepare an agreement to sell Ravinder Singh’s 15 kanals and 16 marlas of land in Malkpur Bet. The complainant maintained that her son had never agreed to sell the property and was not mentally fit to understand or execute such a transaction. The inquiry report noted that his mental disability had been assessed at 50% by the civil surgeon.
{{/usCountry}}The alleged fraud also involved suspicious banking transactions. According to the inquiry, a bank account was opened in Ravinder Singh’s name at Axis Bank, Miller Ganj, on July 25, 2015. The alleged sale agreement mentioned payments of ₹8.80 lakh each through two cheques. The bank records examined during the inquiry reportedly showed different amounts and dates for those cheques.
The police further found that three demand drafts totalling ₹1.49 crore, which the accused had cited as part of the sale consideration, were issued on January 1, 2018, but cancelled the following day. The inquiry concluded that the drafts did not establish that the money had actually been paid to Ravinder Singh.
The inquiry also recorded statements from Amarjit Singh and Baljit Singh, who corroborated the account of the two blank stamp papers being signed in connection with the loan. Both maintained that the papers were later used to prepare the disputed property agreement without Ravinder Singh having agreed to sell his land.
After the death of Ajay Kumar Goel in January 2020, his wife Geetu Goel and son Kanav Goel allegedly asserted rights over the disputed property on the basis of the agreement in the civil proceedings concerning the land. The inquiry recommended action against them along with Kamal Parkash Goel.
ASI Sukhbeg Singh, who is investigating the case, stated that the FIR was registered following an inquiry. The accused have been booked under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security or a will), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.