Rajkot: In an alarming case of alleged property fraud, an 81-year-old British passport holder living in London was duped of her residential property in Bhuj after being taken to the sub-registrar’s office on the pretext of completing her Aadhaar enrolment.The victim, Lalita Parmar, lodged a complaint with the Bhuj City A Division police, following which police registered a case against five accused—Pupal Sangar, who allegedly posed as a lawyer, his father Shivji Sangar, brother Dharmesh Sangar, mother Champa Sangar and property buyer Anjana Sangar.The victim stated that she purchased a house in Bhuj’s Ashapura Park area in 2006. During a visit to India in 2022, she sought to obtain an Aadhaar card and was introduced to Shivji Sangar through a mutual acquaintance.Shivji allegedly asked her to provide copies of her property documents and passport, claiming they were required for the Aadhaar enrolment process. On June 9, 2022, Dharmesh allegedly took Parmar to the local sub-registrar’s office. He allegedly told her that her presence and signatures were necessary for the Aadhaar process. Believing the claim, Parmar signed the documents as instructed.The accused allegedly retained her original documents and later told her that her Aadhaar card could not be generated.The alleged fraud came to light only recently when Parmar initiated a title-clearance process to sell the property. During verification of municipal tax records, she discovered that ownership of the house had already been transferred to Anjana Sangar.Further inquiries allegedly revealed that a power of attorney (PoA) had been executed in favour of Champa Sangar using Parmar’s forged signatures. The alleged PoA was then used to transfer and sell the property to Anjana Sangar.Parmar alleged that the sale deed falsely stated that she had received Rs9.82 lakh as consideration for the property, despite no such transaction having taken place. She also claimed that a photograph of a completely different property had been attached to the registered sale deed.When Parmar confronted Shivji Sangar on the phone about the alleged illegal transfer, he offered to pay her the value of the property before disconnecting the call and blocking her number. Parmar has told investigators that she has an audio recording of the conversation and intends to submit it as evidence.Bhuj City ‘A’ Division police have booked the accused under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), 114 (abettor present), and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
