CHANDIGARH: Two Chandigarh men who allegedly forged documents to obtain the ownership of a one-kanal house in Sector 8 will face a trial in court for
cheating and forgery, charges which entail a prison term of up to seven years.
Sector 46 resident
Jatinder Birgi and his accomplice, citybased advocate Raj Kumar Bhatia, were booked on July 19, 2016, on directions given by the Supreme Court on November 18, 2015. Bhatia and Birgi had allegedly tried to grab the 500-square-yard house in Sector 8 by forging an agreement, dated March 16, 2011, to show that owner Meenu Vaid had sold her house to Birgi.
Bhatia carried out the forgery in July 2014, after Vaid met with an accident and was bedridden. To know her details, the accused at first took a part of her house on rent for Rs 7,000 a month. On the basis of the rent deed, Bhatia prepared the forged sale agreement, it has been alleged in the investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The charges include: sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 417 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.
The SC had ordered the registration of a case after the accused themselves had approached it. While Vaid was hospitalised as her health worsened, her neighbours, on noticing the two accused bringing people to the house to show it to them, objected to their movements. To keep them off, the accused first filed a complaint on March 22, 2011, the day Vaid expired. The matter reached district court, but it dismissed the case and questioned the locus standi of the duo. The appellate court also dismissed their appeal. The matter reached the Punjab and Haryana high court, but it too junked their appeal. When the duo went to the Supreme Court, it said ordered the CBI to register a case against the duo and probe their role. That is when the forgery came to light.
Representative image