Nine booked in property grab case, two arrested

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 2

Nine persons, including liquor baron Arvind Singla, a brother of a UT DSP and a journalist, have been booked by the UT police on several charges, including property grab. Two of the accused, including the journalist, have been arrested in the case.

A case under Sections 452, 331, 344, 365, 386, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 473, 474, 477 and 120-B of IPC has been registered against Singla, Satpal Dagar (brother of the DSP), Khalendra Singh Kadiyan, Ashok Arora, Saurabh Gupta, the late Surjit Singh, Shekhar, Daljit Singh, Sanjeev Mahajan (journalist) and others, on the basis of an inquiry conducted by DSP Devinder Kumar Sharma. According to the police, a 338 sq yard house in Sector 37 belongs to Rahul Mehta. Rahul’s parents and brother have passed away and he is the legal heir and owner of the house.

One of the accused, a bouncer, was shot

One of the accused named in the FIR, Surjit Singh, a resident of Sector 38 (West), was returning home when he was shot dead near his house in March last year. Surjit, who was a bouncer for almost 15 years, had turned into a financier.

The police claimed that Rahul’s health condition was not good following which the accused took advantage of his ailment and hatched a conspiracy to grab his house.

Liquor baron was in news last year

Arvind Singla was in the news last year when five assailants had opened indiscriminate fire at his brother Rakesh Singla’s house in Sector 33. The assailants had come looking for Arvind, who is an established liquor contractor.

The police said Rahul, who is at present at Apna Ghar Ashram in Bharatpur, Rajashthan, joined the inquiry and stated that in April/May 2017, Surjit, Sukhbir, alias Bittu, Khalli, Sanjeev and others forcibly entered his house and occupied the upper floor of his house. The police claimed that the accused allegedly confined Rahul to a room of his house, tortured him and got the General Power of Attorney (GPA) of the house executed in favour of Arvind Singla and Khalendra Singh Kadiyan.

Meeting on deal held at DSP’s office

As per the FIR, a meeting regarding the deal of the house was also held at the DSP’s office, whose brother is an accused in the case.

They also got his signatures forcibly on blank papers and blank cheques.

The police said that during the inquiry, it was found that in June/July 2017, Surjit and the others took Rahul to Bhuj in Gujarat and confined him to a stud farm, owned by Abdul Karim, for over a month.

Later, Abdul Karim got Rahul admitted to Shri Ramdev Seva Ashram, Bhuj. After that, he was shifted to Shraddha Foundation, Karjat, Maharashtra, and further to Apna Ghar Ashram, Delhi. Thereafter, he was shifted to Apna Ghar Ashram, Rajasthan.

The police said Rahul stated that he had never sold his house. According to the police, it was found that the accused prepared fake documents and executed a sale deed on March 1, 2019, in favour of Saurabh Gupta by presenting Rahul’s proxy before the Sub-Registrar, Estate Office, Chandigarh, whereas on the date of the sale deed, Rahul was at Apna Ghar in Rajasthan and he never came to Chandigarh for the purpose of cancellation of the GPA or execution of the sale deed.

During the course of the investigation, Sanjeev and Manish, a builder, were arrested and produced before a court today, which remanded them in three-day police custody.