Stamp duty evasion scam worth crores: 329 booked in Ludhiana for ‘cheating’ govt, 296 sale deeds found discrepant

The High Court directions for the FIR registration came on the writ petition filed by Subhash Kundra alias Katty, a resident of sector 32, Chandigarh Road, Ludhiana, who has been pursuing the matter since 2016, alleging massive losses to state exchequer due to stamp duty evasions.

According to the sub-registrar’s complaint to the police, 296 vasike (sale deeds) are under scanner for stamp duty deficiency. Of 296, the FIR for 159 has been registered at Moti Nagar police station on February 17. The sale deeds under scanner were registered in Ludhiana East division between 2016 and 2019.

The FIR has been registered under sections 420 (cheating), 177 (knowingly furnishing false information to a public servant, 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC and section 82 of Registrations Act at Moti Nagar police station. The FIR has been registered under the IPC sections as the registries took place before the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) came into force. As per the excerpts from the High Court order dated February 9 that have been quoted in the FIR, the District revenue officer (DRO), Ludhiana, Gurjinder Singh, who was present in the court, assured the High Court that a proper probe will be carried out for all 296 sale deeds under scanner. The ADCP from Ludhiana Police has also assured the court that FIRs shall be registered in all 296 cases of deficient stamp duty.

According to the FIR, sub-registrar in his complaint wrote that 159 sale deeds are confirmed to be found with “deficient stamp duty” under the section 47-A of Stamp Act.

Whistleblower Katty, a former lottery tickets trader, said that he had blown the lid off in the case in 2016, and has been pursuing it since then. He said that the Ludhiana administration has admitted in the court that at least 296 sale deeds have been found with “deficient stamp duty”.

“It was a long legal battle that I undertook against the administration, police and the state government as none of them took the matter seriously. In 2016, I had myself bought a property and got to know of this scam then. The crorepatis in Ludhiana are buying properties worth crores but paying miniscule stamp duties. For instance, sale deeds which should be executed after paying at least Rs 1.50 crore as stamp duty are being for Rs 17-18 lakh only. They are paying peanuts in name of stamp duty and revenue officials are also hands in glove. This is a massive scam and cheating with state exchequer, and also a way to stash black money. This is not just stamp duty evasion, but also a way to evade income tax by crorepatis involved in this scam,” said Katty.

Katty said that initially in 2016 he had given details of 11 such discrepant sale deeds to Ludhiana Police, and the then SP Dhruv Dahiya had got the FIR number 113 registered at division number 5 police station. “However, the Ludhiana Police tried its best to get the case quashed and thrice they filed the cancellation report in the court. But I moved the High Court and argued my case on my own after my lawyer also left the case in midway. After pursuing the case for 10 years, my effort has paid off as the court has ordered registration of fresh FIR in all such sale deeds,” said Katty.

Katty is also known for the 2020 “sting operation” on cops. In 2020, eleven cops from Ludhiana Police were also booked on his complaint after he had handed over the video recordings of at least 28 policemen, in which they were purportedly seen taking bribes from lottery traders to let them run shops illegally.

“But even now, the police has neither made me the complainant, nor the witness in the fresh FIR so that they can protect revenue and other officials who will be found involved further during the probe. For ten years, I met and pleaded to all the MLAs including those from SAD, Congress and even AAP demanding a thorough probe and action in this multi-crore scam but no one listened. It’s not just any one party but the entire system is corrupt. But I will take this fight to a decisive conclusion in the High Court,” said Katty, adding that the next hearing in the HC is scheduled for April 22.

“I have not been made complainant or witness in the fresh FIR, so that the officials can later connive and get each other acquitted. They just want to save and shield each other,” he alleged. “But I won’t let that happen.”

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP, Industrial Area-A), Ludhiana, Inderjit Singh, said that a probe has been started after the registration of the FIR on the High Court orders. “If the role of any revenue official will also surface during the probe, we will nominate more accused in the case,” said the ACP.