E-Paper
Pune Police on lookout for man in 18-acre Hadapsar forest land grab case
According to the forest department, the accused Popat Pandurang Shitkal had allegedly got his name registered on the 7/12 extract by forging the signature of state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president and former minister Chandrakant Patil.
The vigilance cell of the Pune forest department has foiled an attempt to grab 18 acres of prime forest land near Hadapsar. The land is estimated to cost ₹200 crore as per the prevailing market rate, said, officials.
According to the forest department, the accused Popat Pandurang Shitkal had allegedly got his name registered on the 7/12 extract by forging the signature of state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president and former minister Chandrakant Patil.
The forest department in its petition pointed out that the accused had shown an 18-acre plot on survey No. 62 in Hadapsar as his private land which is, in fact, forest land. He unsuccessfully tried to register the said plot in his name and had appealed to the revenue officials. However, the officials had quashed the petition. Thereafter he went to High Court wherein the court directed the state government to take an appropriate decision.
Meanwhile, his application before the revenue department of the government was rejected by the district collector and the divisional commissioner.
He then approached revenue minister Patil in 2018 who also directed that his application be rejected. But he allegedly forged Patil’s signature and issued a fraudulent gazette notification of transferring the land parcel in his name. The officials at the land records department found it to be bonafide and correct, so they initiated the process of registering his name on the 7/12 extract.
Later, the case was transferred to the forest department where deputy forest officer Rahul Patil gathered information regarding it and sought all the paper.
Since it was forest land, it cannot be transferred to a private person as was the conclusion of the forest department report prepared under Patil’s supervision.
Trupti Kolte, tehsildar, Haveli, who lodged the official complaint with the police, said “ The land documents furnished by the order was issued by the minister on January 31, 2018, and we, therefore, had transferred the forest land in his name. The man had produced 15 copies of the order, which he claimed was issued by the minister for deforestation or de-reserving of the forest land situated in Hadapsar.”
“When I saw the order, I also believed that it was issued by the minister because it was per the government style with clarity and precision. The man had also submitted High Court citations, document proof and other papers. We issued a 7X12 extract, which gave ownership of the land to the individual last month,” she said.
Range forest officer MJ Sanas who conducted the inquiry into the case, said, “The 18-acre forest land is in the possession of the forest department. In 2015, we put up fencing around the land and looked after its security.”
“Before 1980, the government had transferred some land in the name of those who had been tilling it for years or those who had been evicted for construction of dams and other projects. However, after 1980, the rules have become stringent and transfer of forest land is not easy,” he said.
“We informed the district collector that the said belonged to the forest department and has not been de-reserved by the government and accordingly legal action was initiated,” he said.
Inspector Sheehari Bahirat, of Khadak police station, said, “We had lodged a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) which includes cheating and forgery. A team has been sent to track the accused and a probe is on in the case.”
