'Gang of five' eyed vacant houses, held

HYDERABAD: Detectives of the Special Operations Team on Monday arrested a five-member gang for selling plots whose owners were not in the city after creating fake land documents.

According to cops, accused G Narsimhulu, Suresh Kumar, A Sridhar, N Yadaiah and U Hari Krishna Goud, used to take certified copies of plots from different registrars' offices. They were often hand-in-glove with officials and used to extract information from them regarding who the owners of the plots were and where they were living. They would only target plots whose owners were out of the city, according to commissioner of police (Rachakonda) Mahesh M Bhagwat.
Acting on a complaint filed by one K Jagdish, a case was registered against them at the Meerpet police station. Upon interrogation, the accused confessed that Suresh Kumar was involved in the illegal business of forging fake documents such as stamp papers, revenue certificates, birth, death, caste and income certificates. He had in his possession non-judicial stamp papers dating back to 1921.

"Real estate brokers used to approach him to forge



documents. Suresh used to wash the writing on the documents with soap and then re-write the names," said an official, with knowledge of the matter. After forging the documents, the gang would sell the plots to unsuspecting buyers.

Cops seized from the gang's possession three fake documents, seven certified copies of different plots, 26 stamp papers, 94 old and washed non-judicial stamp papers, 332 blank non-judicial stamp papers, 655 rubber stamps, 1,000 revenue stamps of various denominations, 25 ink pens, bhoomipujan material and 1,10,000 cash. The gang sold land in places such as Teachers' Colony (Dr A S Rao Nagar), Adibatla, Kuntloor, Neredmet and Edulabad in Ghatkesar adding up to 1,629 square yards.

Bhagwat said, "At times these gangs are hand-in-glove with the registration department like in the Chotuppal case. In that case, the sub-registrar is on the run." In the Chotuppal case, 24 acres in the name of an NRI were taken over by unknown persons. He said, "Many people bought lands in the 80s and 90s, but after the value went up, grabbers have been forging documents and selling the plots."