Accused forged papers to secure loan for purchasing house

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune news service

Chandigarh, April, 2

The Chandigarh Police have made more revelations in the Sector 37 property grab case in which nine people have been booked.

The special investigating team (SIT) of the Chandigarh Police, in its reply before the court, alleged that the accused had submitted “forged papers” to secure the bank loan for the purchase of the house.

The SIT filed the reply while opposing the bail pleas of accused Sanjeev Mahajan, a former journalist, and Inspector Rajdeep Singh.

The police have so far arrested four accused, including Mahajan and Inspector Rajdeep Singh, in the case and are on the lookout for the other accused.

As per the FIR, the accused had fraudulently sold the house of Rahul Mehta in Sector 37, Chandigarh.

The police claimed that the accused obtained the signatures of Mehta after torturing him. They said he was later abandoned in Gujarat and an impostor was produced before the office of the Sub Registrar at the time of the execution of the sale deed of the house.

Rajdeep Singh, former SHO, Sector 39 police station, was arrested for not taking any action on the initial complaint filed against the accused, who had forcibly occupied the house in Sector 37, Chandigarh.

The police also stated in its reply that one of the accused had falsely lodged a complaint after the bank had raised objection with respect to the original transfer letter and original lease deed of the house.

The accused submitted an undertaking-cum-indemnity in favour of the bank claiming that original transfer letter and original lease deed was lost and got it attested even as original lease deed never existed, the police said.

The police also claimed that in order to receive the cheque from the bank, forged and fabricated undertaking was prepared in the name of Rahul Mehta.

The police said an advertisement in the name of Mehta also got published in the newspapers without any authorisation.

Special public prosecutor Manu Kakkar argued on behalf of the SIT before the court. While opposing the bail plea of the accused, Kakkar cited the judgment of former Chief Justice of Supreme Court Deepak Misra and Justice Prafulla C Pant, who had observed that the court must deal with corrupt people with an iron hand.

The court postponed the hearing on the bail pleas for Monday.

Rajesh Sharma, counsel appearing on behalf of accused Sanjeev Mahajan, claimed that the police failed to show any documentary evidence or any transaction in favour of Mahajan in relation to the controversial property.

Sharma also said the statement of Mehta alleging that the accused trespassed into his house in April/May 2017 was not tenable as he had already rented out the upper floor of his house to Surjit Singh, who is also an accused in the case, on January 14 of that year.

Harish Bhardwaj, counsel of inspector Rajdeep Singh, claimed that all the allegations against his client were imaginary and a figment of imagination.