Delhi gang impersonates landowner, steals ₹5.12 cr land compensation from govt

he case dates to 2016 when the Haryana government acquired land to build the Southern Peripheral Road

A Delhi-based gang was arrested for impersonating a Gurugram landowner in court in May 2023 and illegally claiming ₹5.12 crore that the government had awarded him as compensation for land acquired to build the Southern Peripheral Road, police said on Saturday. The fraud was uncovered by a patwari in December 2024 when the gang was trying to embezzle ₹6.38 lakh from the government, police added.

The government deposited ₹518 crore in court in March 2022 as compensation for the landowners. (Representational image)

The accused were identified as Tushar alias Kaku, 21, Krishna Kumar, 50, Dinesh Kashyap alias Rathor, 38, Pankaj Kumar Kela alias Dharm, 47, and Sushil Kumar Darda, 48, police said, adding that they were arrested over the past two months. The mastermind of the gang, whose name has been withheld by police, is still at large, police said.

The case dates to 2016 when the Haryana government acquired land to build the Southern Peripheral Road.

The government deposited ₹518 crore in court in March 2022 as compensation for the landowners, who till then had not claimed anything from the government. Police said that the accused gang leader somehow learned about the money lying with the court and hatched a plan to seize it after getting details about one of the owners, named Brahm Prakash of Badshahpur.

Arrested accused Krishna impersonated Brahm, hired two lawyers, and moved a city court to claim compensation of ₹5.12 crore, including ₹4.97 crore principal amount and ₹15.19 lakh bank interest against one of the land parcels, police said. The gang successfully received the money from the court in May 2023, police said.

Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that when the gang was trying to get ₹6.38 lakh released from court for another land parcel, the patwari of the land acquisition office managed to track down the actual owner and contacted him.

“The patwari was surprised to know that the landowner had never moved court to seek any compensation as he had taken TDR (transfer of development rights) from the government,” said Kumar. “The patwari immediately alerted senior officials who then apprised the court about the fraud and impersonation,” he added.

Authorities then learned that the impersonator had already fraudulently got the court to transfer ₹5.12 crore into a bank account in the name of Brahm Prakash in Nagpur, Maharashtra, police said.

“The court ordered an inquiry after which an FIR for cheating and impersonation was registered at Shivaji Nagar police station. The EOW started an investigation and arrested the accused one by one from various locations,” he said.

Investigators said that Tushar and Dinesh had prepared fake Aadhaar and PAN cards of Brahm with Krishna’s photo on them based on which they opened the bank account in Nagpur. Police said that of the entire amount, ₹15.19 lakh was given to Krishna, Dinesh received ₹1.9 crore, Sunil and Pankaj got ₹25 lakh each, and Tushar got ₹9 lakh. Police are investigating where the rest of the money went.

Investigators said that Tushar is named in a case involving sexual assault against a minor in Delhi. Dinesh has two cheating cases registered against him in Delhi and Rajasthan, Pankaj has three forgery cases against him in Gurugram and Sushil has one forgery case registered against him in Gurugram, police said. Police added that the connivance of government officials in the fraud could not be denied and more owners might have been targeted by the gang.

Officials said that ₹69.65 lakh of the original ₹5.12 crore, three phones, an Aadhaar, two voter cards and a car were recovered from the accused.