A senior citizen couple in Vadodara nearly lost their plush home in the Bhayli area as the broker forged their Aadhaar card copies and sold off the property to an NRI without their knowledge.
Broker Jatin Pala forged signatures, documents, and Aadhaar cards to sell the house. He pasted photos of a man named Yagnesh Dave and a woman, Alpa Patel, on the Aadhaar card copies and showed them as the owners of the house owned by complainants Omveer Singh and wife Jagruti.
The Singhs had roped in Pala to sell their house in Vrajbhoomi Apartment and gave him their Aadhaar card, PAN card, and other documents. In November 2020, they got a call from a person asking them to hand over possession of their house to Vishal Malkan who had bought it. The shocked Singhs inquired and learned that Pala had tampered with their Aadhaar card copies to sell off the house.
“Pala presented Dave and Patel as the Singh couple in the sub-registrar’s office and sold off the property to Malkan who wasn’t aware of his fraud. Omveer filed an FIR of cheating and forgery against Pala and three others at Gotri police station in 2020,” said advocate Kishore Pillai who represented the couple in the civil court. Pala, Dave, Patel, and one Rahul Thakkar were arrested by the Gotri police, and they are now on bail.
Meanwhile, Singh also filed a case in the civil court to get back the ownership of his house in 2021. “Dave and Patel also took advantage of the Covid mask rule and tried to hide their faces during the property registration process to avoid being caught,” Pillai said.
The court ordered the handing over of the house to the Singh couple and directed the sub-registrar Akota to cancel the sale deed.
“During investigations, it came to light that Pala had connived with other accused to usurp the property and sell it off by forging signatures, documents, and Aadhar cards. In 2021. The court heard both sides and ordered in the favour of the Singhs,” Pillai said.
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