An MLC of Andhra Pradesh, G. Deepak Reddy, along with two others, was arrested by the Telangana police in a cheating case here on Tuesday.
A special team of the Hyderabad Central Crime Station, which had been investigating the case against the MLC for the past three months, summoned him to its office on Tuesday. After hours of interrogation, the MLC, lawyer Shailesh Saxena and his associate Srinivas were arrested.
Nearly three months ago, a criminal case under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code had been registered against them. The complainant, a member of a co-operative housing society based in Bhojagutta of Mehdipatnam, had approached the CCS alleging that the accused had tried to usurp society land by presenting forged documents.
“Nearly seven acres of land was allotted to the society by the Government. The complainant charged that the MLC had got fake sale agreement made with fictitious names and moved the court seeking rights over the land,” CCS Assistant Commissioner of Police G. Jogaiah said.
Special teams of the CCS, led by DCP Avinash Mohanty, had collected copies of the sale agreement, registration and other documents presented by the MLC and his aides. “It took nearly three months for ascertaining whether or not the documents are genuine and cross-check facts with the Sub-Registrar office,” the investigators said.
Recalling similar cases reported earlier, the police said some gangs would identify vacant Government lands, and create ownership documents in the names of fictitious persons. The properties would be transferred in the names of key members of the gang eventually.
Using these forged documents, they would move the courts and secure some orders. They would take physical possession of the lands if they are vacant by showing the court orders. “If the land is already in the possession of others, these gangs demand huge sums from them showing the orders for not pursuing the matter,” a police officer said.
CCS officials maintained that they got statements of some of the key witnesses in the case, involving the MLC, recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The MLC is a relative of Telugu Desam party MLA J.C. Prabhakar Reddy of Tadipatri in Andhra Pradesh.
