BERHAMPUR: Golanthara police on Friday arrested two land brokers for allegedly cheating a local resident of around Rs 75 lakh through a fraudulent land deal.
The accused are Somendra Kumar Sahu (63) of Badabazaar and Siba Sankar Choudhury (46) of Raijhola.
Police said on December 5 last year, one Himansu Sekhar Patra (40) of Gandhinagar in Berhampur had lodged a complaint alleging that Sahu and Choudhury tricked him to purchase a patch of agriculture land. Relying on their claims, the complainant purchased the land through registered sale deed in 2022. But during boundary demarcation work in December 2023, locals produced documents showing that the land had already been sold to different persons during 1970-1972.
Patra claimed the accused concealed these prior transactions and fraudulently sold the land again, causing him a financial loss of about Rs 75 lakh. When he asked the duo for refund of his money, they reportedly started to avoid him. After waiting for two years, Patra lodged a complaint with police.
Berhampur SP Saravana Vivek M said during investigation, it was found that the accused had deliberately concealed the earlier transactions in order to carry out the fraudulent sale. Fearing arrest, the accused duo went into hiding. However, their luck ran out after police nabbed them from Berhampur and seized several documents including registered sale deeds, RORs, encumbrance certificates and other records supporting the allegations levelled against them.
Vivek said initially, a case was registered under section 420/34 of the IPC for cheating and common intention. During the course of investigation, additional offences related to forgery including cheating and using forged documents as genuine were also established.
The SP said the accused duo was produced in court on Sunday evening. Further investigation is underway to determine the involvement of others in the racket or if there are more victims. Besides, past land transactions linked to the accused persons are being examined as part of the ongoing probe, he added.