NE NEWS SERVICE
SURAT, JUNE 26
A sarpanch, a deputy sarpanch, and three talatis have been booked for allegedly forging documents related to high-rise buildings, shops and row houses in Sayan village in Olpad taluka of Surat, police said on Saturday.
An FIR was lodged against the five on the order of Gujarat High Court based on documents accessed by complainant Dilip Chavda under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The five were booked under IPC sections 465, 471 (forgery), and 114 (abettor present when offence committed) after it was found that they passed official resolutions in the panchayat to allow construction on village land using forged documents, signatures and stamps, an Olpad police station official said.
“Between 2014 and 2017, the five colluded to forge applications in the name of Dilip Kankotia, a former owner of the land, to pass various resolutions related to approval of construction of buildings and their transfer etc. Kankotia had sold his plot of land in the village in March, 2013 after which his name was dropped from the revenue record,” the official said.
“The name of Kankotia was used in documents related to 268 different properties and 28 high-rise buildings, which were then transferred to partnership firms and individuals through various resolutions passed between 2014 and 2019,” the official said.
He identified the accused as then sarpanch and now deputy sarpanch Ashwin Thakkar, present sarpanch Anil Patel, and talatis Dinesh Patel, Dilip Patel and Vijay Patel. None of them has been arrested as yet, the Olpad police station official added.
