Man facing land grabbing charges detained

A man, who is facing charges of land grabbing, was detained here, police said on Friday.

Ravinder Kumar lias "Gupta" alias "Gola Shah" is a notorious land grabber facing trial in 20 cases. He has been booked in a fresh FIR to take the investigation against him to the logical conclusion, the Crime Branch, Jammu, said.

He was taken into custody and put to sustained questioning during the day, it said.

Kumar has been booked in a case under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code, including 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) , 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), the Crime Branch said in a release here.

Earlier, he was summoned several times to cooperate in the investigation but has been evading the calls of the investigating officer, it said.

Kumar had also approached the court and got the bail order from the second additional judge on August 16, the release said, adding despite the court order, the accused did not bother to come to the investigating officer for completing the bail formalities as well as in cooperating the investigation of the case.

On Thursday, the investigating officer submitted a report of the case sought by the court along with past conduct of the accused, who is a notorious land grabber criminal, having trail of 20 FIRs against him, the statement said.

"He is a history sheeter in Police Station Gangyal. In 2006 when land grabbing incidences by him started growing out of control, the the then District Magistrate Jammu slapped arrest warrants under PSA against him," it said, adding the additional sessions judge again directed the accused to immediately cooperate in the investigation of the case.