Seven booked for duping realtor of Rs 3.21 crore; no arrest

Seven people, including two talathis or revenue officials, have been booked for allegedly duping a city-based real estate developer to the tune of over Rs 3 crore by using forged documents of a prime land in suburban Kalina, police said on Tuesday.

They were booked by the police in suburban Khar, but no arrest has been made till now.

The accused, booked for cheating and forgery, among other charges, include two talathis (revenue officials) identified by the police only as Sheikh (now retired) and Nikam (suspended), and Suresh Shetty, a broker at registration office here.

According to Khar police officials, one Seprin D'souza, who posed as the "owner" of the plot at the centre of the fraud case, and his three associates - Parvesh Rai, Jagdish Kumar and Dev Tiwari - are the other accused.

They all are accused of duping Bajaj Developers owner Govind Bajaj (65), the complainant in the case, they said.

In his statement to the police, Bajaj said in 2014, Kumar and Tiwari contacted him for selling a piece of prime land in Kolivery village in Kalina.

The duo told Bajaj they knew the plot's owner and the land deal was subsequently finalised for Rs 16 crore, the officials said.

Later, they introduced D'souza as the "owner" of the plot. D'souza produced forged documents like 7/12 'utara' to show the land belonged to him and his family, and convinced the realtor to go ahead with the deal, they said.

The fake documents were obtained with the help of the two talathis and the broker booked in the case, they said.

The 7/12 receipt is a crucial piece of document for the establishment of ownership of a piece of land.

D'souza and his associates convinced Bajaj to pay a sum of Rs 3.21 crore to them for registration of the property, transfer of ownership and other related formalities, the officials said.

Bajaj told PTI, "Without knowing their intention, I transferred the amount into their bank accounts as per their requirements and paid some cash too.

"But when I asked them to hand over the property they started making excuses and even threatened me."