Land-grabbing racket busted in south Delhi; 3 arrested

The Delhi Police has busted a land-grabbing racket in south Delhi and arrested three people for allegedly attempting to take over a residential property in Greater Kailash-I, an official said on Saturday.

The accused, Ashish Chaudhary, Vineet Kumar Saigal, the kingpin, and Dilip Kumar Pandey, allegedly targeted properties owned by the elderly, by fabricating ownership papers and initiating civil litigation to create a false claim of title, he said.

The case came to light following a complaint by a Greater Kailash resident, who reported a fraudulent public notice published in a national daily in which unknown persons claimed ownership of his ancestral property, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aditya Gautam said.

Preliminary verification established that the complainant and his family had been in lawful possession of the property for several decades, backed by duly registered sale deeds and gift deeds, he said.

A case was registered at the Greater Kailash police station and later transferred to the Crime Branch for detailed investigation.

During the investigation, police found that the accused had prepared forged and fabricated documents, including a purported release deed, to create a false chain of ownership, the DCP said.

The officer added that in the present case, two separate sets of fake documents, including fabricated wills and sale deeds, were allegedly prepared to stake claim over the complainant’s property and to facilitate its sale to an unsuspecting buyer.

The complainant became aware of the alleged fraud after being informed by a relative about a classified advertisement, claiming ownership of the property, the officer said.

During the investigation, police arrested the three accused on January 22, they said, adding that Chaudhary is a practising advocate, while Pandey has a previous criminal history.

During police remand, original documents suspected of being forged were recovered and seized. Investigators also found that fictitious witnesses were projected in court proceedings, including some who were already deceased and others with incorrect or non-existent addresses.

“The gang was systematically using civil litigation as a tool to lend legitimacy to fraudulent ownership claims and to grab properties,” Gautam said.

Further investigation is underway to identify other accomplices, trace similar cases and ascertain whether more properties were targeted using the same modus operandi, police added.