Year after Ludhiana resident’s death, swindlers steal identity to grab property

The deceased’s son, also a resident of Ludhiana, says he found out that the 10-kanal, 9-marla land owned by his father had been sold by the swindlers to two different parties using forged signatures

A year after the death of an Udham Singh Nagar resident, four persons transferred his property to their name with the help of a lookalike. The deceased’s son filed a complaint after realising the sale of the property.

A year after a Ludhiana resident’s death, swindlers stole his identity to grab property owned by him. (HT File)

After investigation, Ladhowal police lodged an FIR in the case. The accused have been identified as Prabhdeep Singh of Mohi village, Sukhjinder Singh of Jhande village, Gurtej Singh of Mansa and Ajitpal Singh of Khanna.

The complainant, Radha Krishan Gupta said his father Krishan Murari Gupta, who owned the 10-kanal and 9-marla land in Phagla village, died on April 27, 2021. However, a few days ago, he came to know that the land owned by his father had been sold further.

The complainant said he found out that an unidentified person, posing as his father, transferred the ownership of the land to the accused.

He further said the imposter sold 5 kanal 14 marla of the land to Prabhdeep Singh and 5 kanal to Sukhjinder Singh and also had a photograph taken before the Tehsildar for both the registries and forged his father’s signature. The land was sold on April 12, 2022 — almost a year after the death of his father.

Assistant sub-inspector Dalbir Singh, investigating officer, said the unidentified person posing as Krishan Murari Gupta sold the land to Prabhdeep Singh and Sukhjinder Singh, while the other accused Gurtej and Ajitpal were the witnesses in the fraudulent sale of the land.

A case under sections 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable, security or will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code has been lodged against the accused at the Ladhowal police station. A hunt is on for the arrest of the accused.