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Woman, 2 accomplishes held for selling plots in Sushant Lok using forged documents
Gurugram: A woman and her two accomplices have been arrested for allegedly fraudulently selling several plots belonging to Sushant Lok residents by preparing forged
Gurugram: A woman and her two accomplices have been arrested for allegedly fraudulently selling several plots belonging to Sushant Lok residents by preparing forged documents. The trio duped over 200 unsuspecting buyers from across the national capital region (NCR) in the past five years and pocketed more than ₹100 crore, the police said.
According to police commissioner Muhammad Akil, the police had received at least 20 complaints in December and January alleging that a woman and two men had sold their plots by forging the property documents.
The woman, identified as Vibha (last name not available), was a resident of Sector 7. She was allegedly into a real estate business and had a joint partner Rajender alias Raju of Laxman Vihar in Gurugram. She had moved out of the city to Faridabad and was presently operating from her house, the police said.
Vibha was arrested last week, and her two alleged aides, Rajender and Lucky Uppal of Uttam Nagar in Delhi, were arrested on Wednesday. They were produced before the district and sessions court and were taken on two-day police remand, said the police.
The victims told the police that some unidentified persons had forged documents and sold their plots in Sushant Lok-1 to a realtor for a private housing project in Block C of Sushant Lok-1.
In one such incident, 77-year-old Vina Singh, a resident of Sector 57, lodged a complaint on December 31 that the suspects illegally acquired her house and sold to a property dealer. Singh, who had bought the plot in 2001, found in December that two property dealers had visited her house which was given on rent and told neighbours that they had bought it through her on April 22, said Singh.
In another incident, Nikash Dumbre, 42, a resident of Munirka in Delhi, lodged a complaint on December 31 at Sushant Lok police station in which he stated that an unidentified accused sold his plot in Block C by disguising himself as him.
Dumbre told the police that in November 2019 he wanted to sell the plot for his daughter’s wedding, and contacted a property dealer for the same. The police said he was shocked to know that the property was fenced and was in someone else’s possession. Upon enquiry, the victim came to know that the property was sold through an e-auction on November 4 last year.
In a similar case, Anup Singh Dhankhar lodged a complaint on January 23 at the same police station against three persons for selling his land to another man while the possession was with him.
The police said during preliminary investigation it was revealed that Vibha was involved in all these fraud cases, and several cases were registered against her in the NCR. The victims stated that they went to the accused woman’s address of residence, which was mentioned in the document, but did not find her there. Her landlord allegedly told them that she was involved in multiple cases of fraud and was absconding, the police said.
Akil said teams were formed to investigate the cases and the suspects were identified. “Our team arrested the woman from Faridabad last week. She confessed to the crime and revealed their modus operandi and shared details of her close aides who used to help her in preparing forged documents from Delhi and Gurugram,” he said.
The police recovered ₹10 lakh cash, forged allotment letters and forged rubber stamps from their possession.
The cases were registered under sections 419 (impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code against the suspects at Sushant Lok police station.
According to the police, there have been at least 100 cases of land-related frauds in the city last year. In most of the cases, victims were elderly couples whose land was acquired using forged documents.
Akil said many people don’t get the land registry done but sign an agreement and do the deal on stamp paper, which should never be done. Also, before buying any property one should check the land with the local revenue officer and other authorities concerned. “The suspects mostly target vacant lands and unattended plots. They conduct reconnaissance of the areas and prepare a blueprint, then get the forged documents done and contact the property dealer of the area and sold the houses and land,” he said.
Akil said that they have enhanced focus on land-dispute cases and have now sped up the investigations of such cases. The investigations are now being monitored by an assistant commissioner of police and a report is submitted to him fortnightly regarding the pending cases.
