An offence has been registered against four persons including a police officer for an alleged land grabbing in Pune city, by making a fake landowner appear at the time of deed registration at a sub registrar office. The four accused persons include the fake landowner Aparna Patekar alias Aparna Yashpal Sharma, police officer Rajendra Landage, Shailesh Sadashiv Thombre and Anand Lalsaheb Bhagat. Police inspector Swati Khedkar lodged the first information report (FIR) in this case at the Chandan Nagar police station on Friday. As per the FIR, between the 2022 and May 2023, the accused persons allegedly conspired to grab around 10 acres land in Wagholi area in Pune. For this purpose, accused Aparna Patekar, allegedly appeared before a sub registrar office in Pune as Aparna Yashpal Sharma, who is the actual owner of the said land, for registration of sale deed. Police said fake Aadhaar cards, Pan cards in the name of Aparna Yashpal Sharma, were submitted at the sub registrar office to make Aparna Patel appear as the land owner. After the fraud came to light, cops booked Patekar along Thombre, Bhagat and Rajendra Landge, the then senior police inspector of Chandan Nagar police station, under sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 120 (b) of the Indian Penal Code. Police arrested the accused Bhagat (39), resident of Wadegaon in Haveli taluka of Pune district. Police produced Bhagat before a court in Pune on Friday. “The court has remanded the arrested accused to police custody till May 20,” said assistant public prosecutor Yogesh Kadam. Police sought Bhagat's custody to probe the alleged criminal conspiracy, how the accused persons prepared forged identity documents in the name of land owner Aparna Sharma, who is based in Dubai. Police are probing whether the accused persons are involved in any other land-grabbing cases. Police are also investigating the possibility of a larger forgery and land scam racket in this case.
