Ahmedabad man booked for forging Ognaj land owner's documents, downloading his photos from Facebook

A case of fraud has come to light where a land mafia tried to usurp land worth lakhs of rupees fake in Ahmedabad’s Ognaj area. Sola Police have registered a case and launched an investigation.

Mahendra Patel (62), a resident of Naroda, had purchased farmland in Ognaj in 2006 from Nitul Patel. The land was registered under his wife’s name. Recently, Patel decided to sell the land and finalised a deal with Ramesh Bharwad. On July 1, after obtaining the title certificate, the sale deed was executed, and ₹89 lakh was transferred to Patel through banking channels by Bharwad. On the same day, an entry was also made in the revenue records.

A few days later, the new buyer, Ramesh, informed Patel that a man named Ramesh Versi Bharwad had filed an objection against the revenue entry, claiming that he had already signed a sale agreement with Patel and his wife. To support his claim, he produced a notarised agreement.

When Patel examined the document, he was shocked. It was revealed that Ramesh Versi Bharwad, a resident of Chanakyapuri area in Ahmedabad, had fabricated the agreement. The document falsely mentioned a payment of ₹36 lakh. The fraudsters had downloaded photographs of Patel and his wife from Facebook, pasted them on the agreement, and forged their signatures to make the agreement appear real.

Following this revelation, Patel lodged a complaint at Sola Police Station. The police have booked prime accused Ramesh Versi Bharwad, notary R K Rathod, and two other witnesses involved in the fraud.

Preliminary investigation suggests that Ramesh Versi had access to government office records of land transactions. With the help of accomplices, he allegedly prepared fake banakhats either to grab disputed lands or to extort money under the guise of settlement. Police believe this could be part of a larger land mafia network and are probing further.