Journalism of Courage
Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) P K Deshpande on Friday denied bail to two estate agents and a builder arrested by the CID recently for allegedly preparing a fake urban land ceiling (ULC) order.
The court refused bail to estate agents Atul Panse and Sujay Chopade and builder Sharad Kokate on the grounds that there was sufficient evidence to show the involvement of the suspects in the offence and as the matter pertained to forgery of public documents there were possibilities of them tampering with evidence if bail is granted. The trio were produced in court after their police custody ended on Friday and their counsel Pratap Pardeshi submitted the bail plea. The bail being dnied,they were remanded in police custody.
The three were arrested in connection with case no. 20/2011 registered at Swargate police station after investigations revealed their involvement in the scam. According to the CID,the suspects allegedly forged ULC order no. 1471-CH,dated December 9,1998,in respect of 4,100 square metres of land at S.No. 126/1 at Wakad village in Mulshi taluka for pecuniary gains and cheated the Pune Agglomeration and the state government.
Investigations revealed that Kokate had obtained a power of attorney from Mahadeo Mansingh Tupe on September 30,2004 for developing the land and obtaining the ULC order.
Kokate had paid Rs 2.7 lakh to his employee and real estate agent Giramkar and allegedly obtained a back-dated (December 9,1998) fake ULC order through Chopade Panse and another agent,Sanjay Shinde,for getting benefits from the land.
