4 held for diverting tribal farmer’s land compensation money

The Kulgaon-Badlapur police on Friday arrested four people for allegedly transferring an amount of ₹74.50 lakh fraudulently from a tribal farmer’s account to their own accounts.

THANE: The Kulgaon-Badlapur police on Friday arrested four people for allegedly transferring an amount of ₹74.50 lakh fraudulently from a tribal farmer’s account to their own accounts. The money was paid to the farmer, Jijabai Divekar of Badlapur, as compensation by the state for acquiring large tracts of her land for the Jawaharlal Nehru Port-Vadodara Highway Project.

4 held for diverting tribal farmer’s land compensation money

According to Divekar, who is also the complainant, the compensation amount was illegally transferred by the accused to their own accounts, taking advantage of her lack of awareness. She came to know about the fraud recently when she checked her account balance at the bank.

The police said the arrested accused, identified as Sanjay Giri, Bhagwan Chanche, Suresh Tokri, and S Valve, are associated with various political parties and exploited the naivety and illiteracy of the tribal farmers to defraud them.

“Sanjay Giri allegedly obtained thumb impressions from the beneficiaries under false pretences and redirected a significant portion of the money,” said an officer from Kulgaon police station. “We are now verifying if more people, including officials, were part of this fraud. We will ensure strict action against all those who were involved.”