Land grab syndicate strikes again

Mapusa: In a case emblematic of the growing problem of land-grabbing by impersonation and fabrication of documents, a man who died nearly half a century ago was impersonated by fraudsters and his property sold.

Arquibaldo Joseph John Martin De Souza Pinto alias Martin D'souza Pinto died in 1969, according to his son Walter D'Souza, 68. He said his ancestral property was in the name of his father, but in 2015, a sale deed was executed in his name. The property was 2,150sq m in area and worth over Rs 2.5 crore, he said, but was sold for Rs 17 lakh.

The case came to light when Walter, Arquibaldo's legal heir, applied for mutation. When he obtained Form I and XIV for the purpose, it had the name of one Sandeep Kerkar from Verla. Walter then filed a criminal complaint with the Mapusa police and a case has been registered.

Mapusa police said that the accused persons in the case, with common intention, dishonestly impersonated Martin D'Souza Pinto, the actual owner of the property, before the Mapua sub-registrar in 2011, and further fraudulently executed a sale deed in favour of another accused, Sandeep Kerkar, by misrepresenting facts and transferred ownership. In doing so, cops said, they cheated Walter from enjoying his legal rights.

Further, Walter said that he filed an RTI application with the Verla-Canca panchayat asking for the name of the person residing at the address in the sale deed, and got to know that some other person resides there. Besides, the panchayat also said that no person of the said name lives within its jurisdiction.

In cases like these, those in the know say that the loophole taken advantage of is this: according to the Indian Registration Act, it isn't the responsibility of the civil registrar to verify the owner of the property.

But Walter's case isn't the only one to have come to light of late. Sources in the know told TOI that many organized groups such as these are operating in the state and are indulging in sophisticated methods to execute their multi-crore land grabs. They said the modus operandus usually involves fabricating documents and impersonating people, thus depriving innocent citizens of their land.

Recently, a social worker from Corjuem said in a complaint that she was duped of her property by frauds who forged her fingerprints. Ana D'Cruz, 67, stated that Oswald and Christine Moraes from Duler and Siddhesh Naik from Saligao said that they would develop her property of 1,202 sq m at Nachinola. Then, they fraudulently obtained her signature on a deed of sale, thereby committing breach of trust. Further, they forged her fingerprints and produced the same as genuine before the sub-registrar for registering the sale deed. D'Cruz said the offence took place between November 2012 and January 2013.

D'Cruz, a music teacher, said that one of the accused approached her to teach her son music in September 2010.

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PROPERTY THEFT

Modus operandi usually involves fabricating documents and impersonating people

Fraudsters use these illegally obtained details to execute sales deeds and grab land

Loophole in Registration Act regarding verification of owner contributes to problem