3 land-grabbers arrested for using fake ID to sell land

Hyderabad: Gachibowli police arrested three land-grabbers who used a forged voter ID card and land documents to sell a 300-square yard plot of land to a businessperson in November 2017.

The land belonged to Ms Rupa D’Silva, a horse trainer at Bengaluru, who approached the police after she came to know about the deal.

The arrested persons were identified as realtors Sabbani Rajeshwar Reddy and Samuel, and Apala Uma, who impersonated the land owner and obtained a fake voter ID card. Four others involved in the racket are absconding. The land is worth around Rs 2.50 crore.

Ms D’Silva, who had previously stayed in Himayathnagar, had purchased the land at Kondapur from one Sharath Chandra in 2009. The plot was unused since then.

Samuel who got to know about this planned to grab the land along with Rajeshwar Reddy and others. They persuaded Samuel’s neighbour Uma to impersonate Ms D’Silva and obtain a voter ID card. With this card, they created forged documents for the land.

One Rammohan Reddy, purchased the land from the suspects.

When he tried to enter the land, Rupa found out about it and lodged a complaint with the police. A trespass case was registered and a notice served to Mr Rammohan Reddy. Responding to the notice, he stated that he was the owner of the land and had original documents. 

Police collected land papers from both and verified the records and found that the documents submitted by Mr Rammohan Reddy were forged.

“Rammohan Reddy claimed that he had purchased the land from the suspects. Based on the clues, their residences were located and special teams were deputed on the job. Samuel and Rajeshwar Reddy were nabbed on Sunday and will be produced in court,” said Gachibowli inspector M. Gangadhar.