Eight booked for selling NRI’s ₹52-cr land using forged papers

A Manori resident and his seven aides have been booked for allegedly selling land belonging to an NRI using fraudulent power of attorney. The main accused is a former political candidate.

MUMBAI: A Manori resident and his seven aides have been booked by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai police for allegedly selling land belonging to a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) using fraudulent power of attorney.

HT Image

The police said the main accused, Morris Beni Kinny, 60, a resident of Manori, had contested the 2019 assembly elections from Charkop and is close to a senior political leader from Northern suburbs.

According to the police, South Mumbai resident Ardershir Dubash along with his two sisters owned a land measuring 7 acres and 36 gunthas in Manori. In January 2020, he saw an advertisement regarding the property in a newspaper, calling upon people to approach the advertiser if interested in the property.

In 2022, Dubash learnt through his counsel that Kinny had sold parts of the land using a fake power of attorney. The fake document, made in 2013, claimed that it was executed by Dubash and his two sisters.

The accused have been booked under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Registration Act, 1908.

“They sold part of the land at much lesser value, however, as the estimated loss to the owner was to the tune of ₹52 crore, we registered the case accordingly. The accused gave vague addresses and photos of the owners in the power of attorney,” the police officer added.