A case of alleged land grabbing through forged documents and manipulation of a partnership deed has surfaced in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Based on a complaint filed by transport businessman Ravi Kamleshwar Pujari, the Kashimira Police have registered an FIR against Rajesh Kumar Jha, Vikas Singh, Manoj Kumar Singh and Surekha Narkhede for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
The police have booked the accused under Sections 318(4), 316(2), 336(2), 338, 336(3), 340(2), 341(1), 339, 49 and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and have initiated an investigation.
According to the FIR, Rajesh Jha and Vikas Singh had entered into an agreement with Pujari to acquire his defunct firm Kiran Construction. However, a key condition of the agreement stated that two properties held in the company’s name — around 16 acres of land in Poman village in Vasai and about 725 square metres of land in Goregaon — would continue to remain under the ownership of the Pujari family.
As per the complaint, the accused later took possession of the original property documents on the pretext of finding potential buyers for the Goregaon land and showing the papers to them. They allegedly avoided returning the documents despite repeated requests from Pujari.
The FIR states that Rajesh Jha and Vikas Singh allegedly removed pages containing the key condition from the agreement and prepared a forged partnership deed showing that the new partners also had rights over the company’s properties. Subsequently, another partnership deed was allegedly executed in which Vikas Singh was replaced by his brother Manoj Kumar Singh and Surekha Narkhede as partners.
Using this document, the accused allegedly approached the revenue authorities and managed to alter the land records, getting their names entered in the 7/12 extract (Satbara) related to the property.
The alleged fraud came to light when the accused reportedly attempted to sell the land to another person. During the verification of documents, the prospective buyer contacted the Pujari family, which led to the discovery of the alleged manipulation.
The complaint has also raised questions over the role of Talathi Vikram Baad, alleging that the land mutation was carried out without proper verification of documents. A separate complaint has been filed against him and his role is now under scrutiny.
Senior Police Inspector Rajendra Kamble said the Kashimira Police have registered the case and begun an investigation. He added that the authenticity of the documents, the changes made in the revenue records and the role of officials involved are being examined.