Seven held on charge of cheating landowner

‘They prepared fake documents and sold a piece of the land'

Police commissioner J. Purnachandra Rao (second from right) presenting the accused in the land cheating case to the media in the city on Thursday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) B. Balakrishna, Assistant Commissioner of Police (SB) Ch. Adinarayana, and Additional DCP Atchuta Rao are seen. Photo:C.V. Subrahmanyam

Seven persons have been arrested by the Duvvada police on the charge of preparing fake documents and trying to cheat a rightful owner by selling the land without her knowledge.

The accused — D. Satya Saibabu, I. Kiran Kumar, Mutyala Murali, Ch. Raju (all real estate brokers), M. Manemma, a pan shop owner, B. Gangayya, a document writer, and K.V.V. Kamalakar Chowdary, an executive of Axis Bank — were arrested by the Duvvada Zone Inspector Ch. Penta Rao and his team on Thursday.

Giving details of the case to the media, Police Commissioner J. Purnachandra Rao said gold and silver ornaments, gold fixed deposit documents, sale agreement for purchase of flat, all worth Rs.5.42 lakh, were recovered from the accused.

Blank non-judicial stamp papers were also recovered from the prime accused Satya Saibabu.

Mr. Purnachandra Rao said that a former professor of Andhra University M. Sri Rama Rao had purchased three plots in the name of his wife Seetharatnam, measuring 895 square yards, at Kurmannapalem in 1970.

Mr. Rama Rao contacted Kiran Kumar with an intention of selling the property. Kiran Kumar and Satya Saibabu went to Mr. Rama Rao's house for negotiations and the rate was fixed at Rs.60 lakh. They took a photo copy of the site's document with the promise of securing a suitable party.

On verification of the document, Satya Saibabu and Kiran Kumar found that there was no signature or photograph of Ms. Seetharatnam on it as it pertained to 1970. They hatched a conspiracy to create forged documents on the basis of the particulars mentioned in the photo copy and sell the same. They contacted brokers Raju and Murali, discussed the land sale, and sought their assistance in securing an impostor Manemma of Maharanipeta and introduce her in place of the site owner Seetharatnam.

Kiran Kumar and Satya Saibabu offered to pay the other three persons Rs.25,000.

They then went to Axis Bank branch at Dwarakanagar and opened an account in the name of M. Seetharatnam (introducing Manemma as Seetharatnam) with the alleged connivance of Kamalakar Chowdary.

P. Suresh Kumar of Madhavadhara agreed to purchase 280 square yards at the rate of Rs. 3,650 per yard and paid the amount of Rs. 30.75 lakh to Satya Saibabu by way of cash and cheque between 2009 and 2011. The land was registered in the name of his wife Lakshmi Vinodi on January 4, 2012.

On coming to know of the fact, Seetharatnam lodged a complaint with the Duvvada Zone Police.