Land mafia targeting ailing farmers held, 3 aides at large

LUCKNOW: In a crackdown against fraudsters, the city police on Wednesday arrested a land mafia for targeting the land of ailing farmers and getting it transferred secretly by presenting imposters as the land owner.

Police said the land mafia used to stake claim to the farmers’ land after their death and managed to fool their family members using different legal tactics.

The land mafia arrested on Wednesday was identified as Bhailal, who used the same tactics to grab others’ land while his three aides, Dinesh Kumar, Bharat Lal and Ram Lakhan are still at large.

The arrest was made on the basis of an FIR lodged by one of their victims, Ram Ratan, at Banthra police station on Sunday.

Inspector of Banthra police station Ramesh Rawat said the complainant, Ram Ratan, came to know that around 57,048 square foot farming land of his family has been secretly transferred in the name of Bhailal.

“The complainant said the land was in the name of his father Bharose, who is ailing and bedridden for the past several months and was unable to look after the farming land. He came to know about the fraudulent transfer of land when he checked the land records recently,” he emphasised and

THE LAND MAFIA ARRESTED ON WEDNESDAY WAS IDENTIFIED AS BHAILAL, WHO USED THE SAME TACTICS TO GRAB OTHERS’ LAND

added, “The accused Bhailal claimed that he owns the land now and threatened the complainant with dire consequences when he approached the former.”

The inspector said that the complainant then crosschecked further details and found that Bhailal produced two imposters, Dinesh Kumar and Bharat Lal, as land owners and got it transferred in his name. He said one other person, Ram Lakhan, also helped him in the process.

The complainant alleged that Bhailal had grabbed the land of many other people in a similar manner by secretly transferring lands of elderly people and later claiming stake on it as soon as the elderly passes away.

He said the real claimants of the land could not do much as the accused posed as if he had paid the cost of the land to its owner when he was alive.