9cr land scam busted in Mohali, 2 fraudsters nabbed using decoy customer

Mohali: A Rs 9 crore land scam has been unearthed by Mohali police with the arrest of two fraudsters who sold prime property using forged documents. The accused were trapped through a decoy operation personally overseen by DC Komal Mittal.The accused have been identified as Varinder Singh Brar, a property dealer, and Gurlal Singh of Aklia Kalan, Bathinda, who impersonated the landowner, Meharbant Singh Dhillon. Officials said the accused executed the fraud with alarming precision. They forged Aadhaar and PAN cards by using the real owner's details but replacing the photograph and date of birth. Armed with these documents, they posed as the legitimate owner and sold an 8 kanal plot in Kishanpura, sub-tehsil Zirakpur, tehsil Derabassi, to a Chandigarh resident.The deal was sealed for Rs 9 crore, of which Rs 3 crore was funnelled through a fake bank account and Rs 6 crore was taken in cash. The fraud only came to light when Tejpal Singh, son of the real owner, objected during the mutation process in Zirakpur, exposing the impersonation. Acting swiftly, the DC's office set up a decoy customer to lure the fraudsters into another land deal. As soon as they arrived to close the transaction, police swooped in and arrested them.DC Mittal said, "This was a highly skilled fraud involving systematic forgery of govt documents. Had it gone undetected, it could have triggered more such scams. We are tightening safeguards to prevent recurrence." Police are now probing the money trail, possible involvement of other accomplices, and whether the gang duped more victims.