13, including Haryana, UP revenue officers, booked for fraudulent land sale
Police said that two pages of the original GPA document, which disallowed sale and mentioned the location, were replaced and the document was partially forged in Ghaziabad
At least 13 persons, including revenue department officials from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, were booked on Friday for allegedly conniving with a Sohna resident to allow a land sale in Bhondsi based on a partially forged general power of attorney (GPA), police said on Saturday.
Police said that two pages of the original GPA document, which disallowed sale and mentioned the portion to which GPA was applicable, were replaced and the document was partially forged in Ghaziabad as rules in Haryana do not allow for granting GPA, while it can be done in Uttar Pradesh.
Police identified the main accused as Jitender (goes by a single name), a Sohna resident, who got GPA from landowner Sandeep Chand, 45, his cousin, for 990 square feet area of 76,883.4 sq ft in Bhondsi — worth ₹6 crore in total — owned by Chand. Jitender, who sought GPA by requesting the area for personal use, is alleged to have forged the GPA document in connivance with revenue officials in Ghaziabad.
A senior police officer said that Chand tried to contact the suspect over the matter but didn’t receive any response and was, instead, threatened with dire consequences.
“He applied for a certified copy of the GPA from Ghaziabad sub-registrar office and was shocked to realise that two specific pages were replaced to show that the suspect had the power of attorney was for 33,323.4 square feet land instead of merely 990 square feet and was also vested with the power to sell it,” the officer said, quoting Chand’s complaint.
Chand, who lives in Karna, Palwal, approached the Sohna revenue officials to apprise them of the fraud and disallow mutation of land, but they did not heed his complaint and were booked for inaction.
Officials who were booked include the sub-registrar and registration clerk of Sadar-V in Ghaziabad, the sub-registrar and registration clerk of Sohna subdivision, Girdawar and Patwari of Bhondsi village, two advocates working out of registration offices at both places, and five other persons, including the prime suspect.
Police said the original GPA was prepared at the Ghaziabad sub-registrar office on February 22, and Chand got to know about the sale deed on March 29 at the Sohna tehsil office and duly submitted a complaint on April 10 to the Tehsildar’s office, but they did not take action.
Chand then submitted a complaint at the Sihani Gate police station, Ghaziabad, but no action was taken after which he approached the Gurugram police commissioner’s office on July 19, following which the Economic Offences Wing carried out an inquiry.
After a probe, the suspects were booked under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using a forged document or electronic record as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code at the Bhondsi police station on Friday.
Inspector Manoj Kumar, station house officer of Bhondsi police station, said that the case has been transferred to the EOW. “They will take next action in the matter against the suspects,” he said.