5 held for impersonating deceased owners in ₹2.29-crore land fraud in Maharashtra

Police alleged that Suraj Vasudev Shinde got his father and brother-in-law to impersonate the dead brothers, using fake identity documents to execute the sale.

Five persons have been arrested for allegedly selling a 47-guntha plot in Navi Mumbai by impersonating its deceased owners with forged identity documents, cheating buyers of ₹2.29 crore. The arrests came after a five-month interstate manhunt during which the prime accused allegedly changed identities, phone numbers and hideouts, police said.

The case was registered at Panvel City police station on February 16 under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. (File Photo/PTI)

The accused allegedly targeted a plot in Karanjade belonging to brothers Nathan Eliyahu Chincholkar and Shalom (Selim) Eliyahu Chincholkar, who had migrated to Israel and later died there. Their heirs now live abroad.

Mastermind gets father, brother-in-law to impersonate dead brothers

Police alleged that mastermind Suraj Vasudev Shinde got his father and brother-in-law to impersonate the dead brothers, using fake identity documents to execute the sale before the Panvel-I Sub-Registrar. The land was sold to CBD Belapur residents Prashant and Shreyas Patekar for ₹2.29 crore, police said.

The case was registered at Panvel City police station on February 16 under the relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

Soon after the offence was registered, Suraj Shinde allegedly fled with relatives involved in the conspiracy. Investigators said the group travelled across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Goa, frequently changing mobile numbers and staying in hotels and lodges to avoid detection.

How the police tracked Suraj Shinde

Using technical surveillance and intelligence inputs, a police team led by Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Powar tracked Suraj Shinde to Thivim in Goa, where he was arrested with his uncle, Satish Namdev Shinde, 41, and cousin, Tejas Pramod Surve, 26.

Police later learnt that Manish More had already been arrested by Mapusa police in an unrelated theft case and was lodged in Colvale Central Jail. He was formally arrested in the land fraud case on July 24, while Vasudev Shinde was arrested from Dombivli on July 27.

Subsequently, police also recovered forged Aadhaar and PAN cards prepared in the name of one of the deceased landowners. They also found that Suraj Shinde and Tejas Surve are accused in an earlier cheating and forgery case registered by CBD police in 2022.

Police suspect that more people were involved in the conspiracy and are probing whether similar land frauds were carried out using the same modus operandi.