VB foils bid to sell PIO’s Ludhiana land fraudulently, arrests advocate

Times News NetworkLudhiana: Punjab Vigilance Bureau has arrested city-based advocate Gurcharan Singh and registered a case against nine individuals for executing the fraudulent sale deed of the 14 kanal land of a person of Indian origin (PIO). Besides the advocate, the accused include a tehsildar, a numberdar, and others. Registration of the land, which belongs to a PIO based in the US, was carried out using forged documents. Advocate Gurcharan Singh played a key role in facilitating the fake land registration worth crores.An official spokesman of the VB said that a surprise check was conducted by VB Range Ludhiana at the sub-registrar office, Tehsil West, Ludhiana, on Feb 21, 2025, following intelligence inputs regarding a fraudulent land registration. Investigations revealed that a sale deed of this prime land near Ladhowal-Verka bypass was executed on Feb 11, 2025, between Deep Singh (seller) and Deepak Goel of Panchkula (buyer) at a cost of Rs 30 lakh. Market value of the land is around Rs 6 crore. However, it was found that the actual owner, Deep Singh, lives in the US and the man who appeared in the tehsil office for registration was an imposter.The spokesman added that the original sale deed was taken into possession during the surprise check and verification confirmed the fraud. The sale deed was executed by tehsildar, west, Ludhiana, Jagsir Singh Saran, in the presence of the man posing as Deep Singh. An individual named Amit Gaur appeared on behalf of buyer Deepak Goel and signed the registration documents. The witnesses, including property dealer Raghbir Singh, advocate Gurcharan Singh and namberdar Baghel Singh, identified the imposter as the genuine landowner.The land in question is located in Noorpur Bet village, under the jurisdiction of Ladhowal police station. Its real owner, Deep Singh, aged 55, has been a resident of the US since his birth. His family is also based there. During the fraudulent registration process, the imposter used a forged Aadhaar and PAN card, misrepresenting his age as 39 years (born in 1985), whereas the actual Deep Singh was born in 1971.The spokesman added that the probe also found serious lapses on the part of revenue officials, who failed to verify the antecedents of those involved. Based on the evidence and investigation report, an FIR was registered under relevant sections of BNS at the Economic Offences Wing of the VB and investigation was entrusted to to VB Ludhiana range. The accused include tehsildar Jagsir Singh Saran, buyer Deepak Goel, Namberdar Baghel Singh, registry clerk Krishan Gopal, advocate Gurcharan Singh, Amit Gaur, the fake Deep Singh, a computer operator, and property dealer Raghbir Singh.On the basis of the investigation report, VB arrested advocate Gurcharan Singh, who signed as a witness and identified the fake Deep Singh. He will be produced in court on Saturday. Meanwhile, efforts are underway to arrest the remaining accused, the spokesman added. MSID:: 118629330 413 |
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