Chandigarh: Charges framed in property grab case

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, January 28

Additional Sessions Judge Jagdeep Sood today framed charges against 10 persons booked in the alleged Sector 37 property grab case.

The charges have been framed against Sanjeev Mahajan, Manish Gupta, Satpal Dagar, Inspector Rajdeep Singh, Arvind Singla, Khalendra Singh Kadyan, Gurpreet Singh, Ashok Arora, Daljeet and Saurabh Gupta.

In March last year, the police had registered an FIR for the offences punishable under Sections 328, 331, 344, 365, 386, 419, 420, 452, 464, 465, 466, 467, 468, 471, 473, 474, 477, 166, 218, 201 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 13(1), (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court today added Sections 8 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Mahajan and Rajdeep Singh.

As per the FIR, the accused forcibly entered the house of the victim, Rahul Mehta, and took possession of the first floor in March 2017. The accused had allegedly taken his signatures on papers after torturing him. Rahul Mehta was later abandoned in Gujarat.

The police said an imposter of Rahul Mehta was produced before the office of Sub-Registrar at the time of execution of the sale deed of the house. After registering the FIR, the police arrested the accused. The police have already filed the chargesheet in the case.

The police claimed that forged documents were submitted in the Estate Office for the transfer of the house. It was alleged that the accused had first allegedly transferred the money in the account of the owner, Rahul Mehta, and then withdrew it from his account for their own benefit. Rahul Mehta’s account was also opened allegedly on the basis of forged documents. Besides the bank details of the accused, the disclosure statements of the accused were also attached with the chargesheet. The video of the accused standing in front of the Sub-Registrar office was also attached.

The police submitted a list of over 80 witnesses in the chargesheet. It was alleged that Rajdeep Singh, a former SHO of the Sector 39 police station, did not take any action on an initial complaint filed against the accused.

The police submitted a supplementary chargesheet in the case in December 2021. It contained Central Forensic Scientific laboratory (CFSL) reports, which confirmed that the documents submitted in the Estate Office regarding the transfer of the Sector 37 house were signed by the accused.

The Public Prosecutor argued that the police had sent the documents submitted in the Estate Office, handwriting of the accused and bank and other property papers related with the case to the CFSL to check their authenticity. He claimed that all CFSL reports further confirmed the prosecution case.

Plea to merge challans junked

• While dismissing the applications of Arvind Singla and Satpal Dagar, the court also framed charges in the six cases for which separate challans were presented.
• The accused had prayed the court to merge the separate challans in the main case.
• The court, however, rejected the applications after Additional Public Prosecutor Ashok Rohila raised objections to it in a detailed reply.