NEW DELHI, AUGUST 27, 2004
TNN
Five men were arrested on Thursday
for grabbing an NRI's plot of land at Greater Kailash
II in South Delhi. The accused apparently also sold
off the land, valued at Rs 1.5 crore, to a businessman
in Haryana by using forged documents.
Two of the accused, Rameshwar Brar (47) and Gurmeet
Brar (51), allegedly induced the businessman, Swatantra
Sehgal, to buy the property by offering it for Rs
90 lakh.
Sehgal was told that the land was
owned by one Rajinder Pal who was bed-ridden and
wanted to dispose off the property as he was in
urgent need of money. Rajinder is another accused
in the case who has been arrested.
"Sehgal paid the money, but
when he went to acquire the land, he was confronted
by another man, Gurbachan Pal, who claimed to be
the real owner of the property. A case of cheating
was registered in Chittaranjan Park police station
on August 22," said DCP (economic offences
wing) Dinesh Bhat.
Investigations revealed that the
land was originally allotted to Gurbachan Lal by
DLF in 1973. A cloth merchant by profession, Lal
left for Manila in Philippines next year and settled
there. The land had been lying vacant since then.
The accused were also contemplating
to sell off the same property to a Kirti Nagar businessman
for Rs 80 lakh. Another accused, Devkinandan (57),
was negotiating the deal with the businessman by
impersonating Gurbachan Lal.
"The investigations further
revealed that the property was also mortgaged with
the State Bank of Patiala by Devkinandan who impersonated
Lal. The same property was even found mortgaged
with Haryana State Industrial Finance Corporation
for more than Rs 1 crore. The ill-gotten money from
the property amounts to almost Rs 2.5 crore,"
said a senior police officer.