Ludhiana: Woman, son booked for bid to claim deceased man’s land with fake papers

The accused allegedly created fake documents to show her son from her first marriage as the heir of the deceased man to secure mutation of his property

Machhiwara police have booked a woman and her son for allegedly attempting to claim land worth crores of rupees by falsely showing the son as the child of an unmarried landowner and using a purportedly forged birth certificate and other identity documents to get the property transferred in their favour.

The case was registered on a complaint by Jagtar Singh of Bhattian village and Avtar Singh of Poonian. (HT File)

The accused have been identified as Balwinder Kaur and her son Harshpreet Singh, both residents of Poonian village. The case was registered on a complaint by Jagtar Singh of Bhattian village and Avtar Singh of Poonian.

According to the complainants, their brother Dogar Singh was unmarried and owned land in Poonian and Bhattian. Around 2003-04, he brought Balwinder Kaur and her two children, Harshpreet Singh and Simranjit Kaur, to his house to live with him. Balwinder had allegedly separated from her first husband, Ranjit Singh, and subsequently started living with Dogar Singh.

The complainants alleged that Balwinder later managed to get 9 kanals 18 marlas of Dogar Singh’s land in Bhattian transferred in her name through fraudulent means.

After learning about the transfer, Dogar Singh approached officials, following which the mutation was stopped. He later allegedly disinherited Balwinder and her two children from his movable and immovable property.

Dogar subsequently moved in with his brothers and died in 2021, the complainants said.

They alleged that after Dogar’s death, Balwinder, in connivance with Harshpreet, began creating documents to establish a false family relationship with him. A document was allegedly prepared showing Dogar as Balwinder’s husband and Harshpreet as his son, they claimed. The document allegedly bore forged signatures of the village sarpanch, chowkidar and other persons.

A birth certificate was also allegedly obtained showing Harshpreet as Dogar’s son. The complainants further alleged that PAN, voter ID, ration card and driving licence documents were then prepared for Harshpreet.

According to the complainants, these documents were allegedly used to establish Harshpreet’s claim as Dogar’s son and get mutation of the disputed land sanctioned in their favour.

The complainants maintained that Harshpreet was the son of Balwinder’s first husband, Ranjit Singh. They produced his school certificates during the inquiry to support their claim.

During an inquiry by senior police officials, Harshpreet’s birth certificate was allegedly found to be fake. Police reportedly found that he was not Dogar Singh’s son but the son of Ranjit Singh.

Sub-inspector Karamjit Singh, the investigating officer, said an FIR had been registered under Sections 336(3) (forgery committed with the intent that the forged document or electronic record will be used for cheating), 337 (forgery of court records, government identity cards, or public registers), 338 (forgery of valuable security, wills, or authority to adopt a son), 339 (Having possession of document knowing it to be forged and intending to use it as genuine), 340 (Having possession of document described in section 337 or 338, knowing it to be forged and intending to use it as genuine), 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of BNS and section 23 of Registration of Birth and Deaths Act 1969. Police are conducting raids to arrest the accused.