Excise officer held in Gurgaon for selling plot using fake documents

Gurgaon: An excise officer, who allegedly sold a residential plot using forged allotment and conveyance deed documents, was arrested on Tuesday. Economic offences wing-I from Punjab's Zirakpur nabbed Sector 55 resident Saroj Devi (50). She is currently serving as deputy excise and taxation commissioner in Jhajjar's Bahadurgarh with a recent transfer to Narnaul in Mahendragarh district, police said.
Police said forged allotment letters were created, on the basis of which a conveyance deed was registered in 2020, transferring ownership to Saroj Devi and her associate, Rajbala. A conveyance deed is a legally binding document that transfers property ownership from a seller to a buyer. Saroj Devi, an MPhil graduate, sold the plot and allegedly received Rs 1.7 crore as her share. "The fraud was executed in connivance with the employee of a real estate company," a police officer said. An FIR was registered under relevant sections at Sector 53 police station. The case came to light following a complaint received at Sector 53 police station on Feb 16, 2024. The complainant said his father booked a plot in Gurgaon Sector 54 through a real estate company and made all payments on time. An allotment letter was issued in 2004, followed by possession in 2005.After the death of the allottee in 2013, the family applied for transfer of the plot in the names of the legal heirs. However, the transfer did not materialise. In 2023, the family discovered that construction work began on the plot. On approaching the developer, they learnt that the land was sold to a third party for Rs 3.4 crore in July 2021.Police said the accused would be produced before a court and custody would be sought for further interrogation to identify other accomplices, recover the cheated amount, and seize forged documents.