E-Paper
Property registration with fake NOCs: Builder, deed writer land in police net
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
Days after it was found that at least 175 properties in Dera Bassi were registered using fake no-objection certificates (NOCs), police arrested two persons, including a builder and a deed writer, on Tuesday.
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 has been 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.
SIT formed
Notably, suspecting that the magnitude of the scam may be larger, the Mohali police recently 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.
“With the two arrests, we will surely be able to identify more people involved in this scam. We will not hesitate to book any government servant if they are found to be involved in the nexus,” a senior police officer said.
Both the accused were produced before a Dera Bassi court which sent them to two-day police custody.
Common NOC attached with multiple registries
The police investigation also revealed that in a few cases, a common NOC was attached with multiple registries.
Dera Bassi police had on October 3 booked unidentified persons for registering properties using fake NOCs.
Police were alerted about the racket by the EO, Dera Bassi MC, following a complaint by Sumit Gupta, personal assistant of the Dera Bassi MLA, on September 6.
Gupta had submitted an NOC/plot regularisation certificate to the EO, claiming it was fake.
When verified, it was established that Dera Bassi MC did not issue the NOC on the basis of which property registration was done on August 10, 2023, by the Dera Bassi tehsildar.
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.
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.
