A complaint of fraud was lodged against diamond merchant Chuni Gajera and 176 others, accusing them of illegally grabbing land by preparing forged documents.
A complaint of fraud was lodged against diamond merchant Chuni Gajera and 176 others, accusing them of illegally grabbing land by preparing forged documents after the death of the original owner.
The complaint was lodged by Anil Kumar Satodia, a resident of Rajkot, with Katargam police late on Wednesday. He named Gajera, a partner in Laxmi Diamond, and 176 other people as accused in his complaint. The land in dispute is a prime plot of land bearing revenue survey no. 248/1 in Katargam, Surat.
According to Satodia, the accused prepared fake documents relating to ownership of the land and submitted them to various government departments. The original owner of the land, Somiben, had died in January 1999, but Gajera and other accused forged her thumb impression on various documents two years after her death and perpetrated the fraud.
Satodia, who was Somiben's lawyer and claims to have been given the power of attorney by her, alleged that construction plans on the land were also approved using his deceased client's name and fake thumb impressions. Interestingly, most of the row-houses in Ramjikrupa society, which was developed on the land, were demolished by SMC as they were built illegally.
Gajera is the brother of ex-BJP MLA Dhiru Gajera, who had revolted against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and quit the party in 2007. He had contested the recent Lok Sabha polls from Surat on a Congress ticket. Satodia claimed that many government officials had also connived with Gajera in the fraud.
The Katargam police lodged a case in which the accused were charged under 42 different sections of Indian Penal Code. These range from fabricating evidence to giving false information, committing fraud, selling counterfeit government stamp, trespass, using as genuine forged documents, among others.
Gajera, however, dismissed the complaint as false and said it was politically motivated.
"I had bought the land from its owner and paid the money in full. I have not committed any fraud," Gajera claimed.
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