Over 5K-page chargesheet filed against accused

Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune news service
Chandigarh, May 10

Nearly two months after registering the FIR, the police have filed over 5,000-page chargesheet against the accused in the Sector 37 property grab case.

The police have already arrested Sanjeev Mahajan, Manish Gupta, Satpal Dagar and Inspector Rajdeep Singh in the case, while other accused Arvind Singla, Khalendra Singh Kadyan, Gurpreet Singh and Saurabh Gupta are absconding.

The police enclosed more than 73 documents and the list of over 80 witnesses with the chargesheet, copies of which were handed over to the four arrested accused during the hearing today.

The chargesheet has been filed under Sections 328, 331, 344, 365, 386, 419, 420, 452, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471, 473, 474, 477, 166, 201 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 13(1) (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The police provided detailed information on how the alleged crime took place and how papers and other documents were allegedly forged to grab the house from the owner, Rahul Mehta, who was mentally disturbed.

The police also unearthed the money trail, explaining how the accused had first transferred the money into the account of Mehta and then withdrew it from his account for their own benefit. The bank details of the accused have also been enclosed with the chargesheet.

The disclosure statements of the accused were also presented in the court.

As per the statement of Rahul Mehta, recorded before the magistrate and attached with the chargesheet, the accused entered his house forcefully and took possession of the first floor in March 2017.

The accused allegedly took Mehta’s signatures after torturing him and later abandoned him in Gujarat.

The police said an imposter of Rahul Mehta was produced before the office of sub-registrar at the time of the execution of the sale deed of the house.

The video of the accused standing in front of the sub-registrar office has also been enclosed with the chargesheet.

The police have also attached the affidavit of Rakesh Kumavat of Shraddha Foundation, Maharashtra, who brought Mehta back to his house.

Kumavat alleged that he was threatened by the accused when he brought back Mehta to house from Maharashtra ashram. The employees of the Estate Office and sub-registrar office have also been listed as witnesses. It has also been alleged in the chargesheet that Rajdeep Singh, former SHO of Sector 39 police station, did not take any action on the initial complaint filed against the accused.

It was alleged that the Inspector also tortured a Sector 37 chemist for helping the accused.

The police in the chargesheet also claimed that Mehta’s cousin Rajiv Kumar, who lives in the UK, had denied sending any documents to the Estate Office. And later, the police found that the documents were missing from the original file of the property kept in the Estate Office.

Rajiv Kumar also alleged that he was threatened by the accused when he visited the house in 2017 and was offered Rs 25 lakh to withdraw the court case filed by the accused.

Vishal Garg Narwana, counsel for Satpal Dagar, meanwhile, said the chargesheet was not complete.

Narwana said they were verifying the contents of the chargesheet. The court has fixed the next date of the hearing in the case for May 17.

The court also allowed the application of accused Manish Gupta to sign 34 cheques.