Land worth Rs 10 crore ‘gifted’ without owner’s knowledge

Praveen Kumar | NT

It looks like property documents are not safe even at the sub-registrar’s office. A senior sub-registrar at Bommanahalli division has filed a police case accusing four people of creating fake documents to register a 1.12 acres prime property in their name. However, what is even more shocking is that even the original documents and records, which are in possession of the sub-registrar, have also been tampered with. The police suspect this was done in connivance with employees at the sub-registrar’s office.

The property in contention is worth around Rs 10 crore and located at Begur in Kalena Agrahara. The actual owner is 70-year-old Bhagyamma, wife of Muthappa. The accused has faked the documents stating that Bhagyamma with the approval of her son, Chowrappa, had gifted the deed of the said property to Chowramma, wife of Anthonappa in the presence of three witnesses.

N Manjunath, senior sub-registrar, has filed a complaint against Chowramma and the three witnesses, of whom two have been identified as Thomas and Puttaraju.

“The property is in survey number 33/2. The senior sub-registrar after coming to know that the four accused had tried to cheat the original owner of the land by making it look like the land has been gifted to the accused, has approached the police and has filed a complaint,” said a police officer.

The police are in the process of going through the records and summoning the original land owner to record the statements. It is not clear if the real land owner is in the possession of the property or if it is a vacant plot.

The police suspect that the incident must have come to light when someone came to measure the property to take up construction activity. They strongly suspect the involvement of employees at the sub-registrar’s office in the fraud. “Begur area is infamous for disputed land. Anybody willing to buy a plot in the said area should be doubly sure about the documents.

They should check with all the agencies concerned to know the genuineness of the documents. When BDA plots are being sold with fabricated documents, it is much easier to make fake documents for revenue sites,” the officer added.

The Koramangala police have registered a case and are further investigating. The case has been registered under the Registration Act of 1908, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property (IPC 420), forgery (IPC 465) and forgery for the purpose of cheating (IPC 468) against the four accused.