An Ahmedabad land trader was allegedly cheated of Rs 4.70 crore after a group used forged Aadhaar and PAN cards, fake bank accounts and impersonators posing as landowners to execute property transactions in Ognaj village, according to a complaint filed at the Sola High Court police station. Ten people, including Dharamshibhai Rabari and Deepak Tripathi, have been named in the case, and police have begun an investigation.
The complainant, Rashminbhai Mafatlal Patel, lives in the Bhadaj area of Ahmedabad and is engaged in buying and selling land. According to the complaint, Rabari and Tripathi approached him about 10 months ago with an offer to sell parcels located within Ognaj village limits. The parcels were identified by survey numbers 955/4/1, 955/1 and 926.
The two men were previously known to Patel, which allegedly helped them gain his confidence. They introduced him to people presented as the original owners of the land. The complaint alleges that the accused had created counterfeit Aadhaar and PAN cards in the names of the actual owners—Baldevbhai Patel, Kantaben, Minalben and Hitendrakumar—and used those documents to open bank accounts at Bandhan Bank.
Based on the alleged documents and representations, a notarised agreement to sell was executed on January 19, 2026. Registered sale deeds were subsequently prepared on April 30 and May 6, 2026, in the names of the supposed landowners. The complaint states that Patel paid a total of Rs 4.70 crore through a combination of bank transfers and cash for the transactions. Other accused individuals allegedly signed the documents as witnesses.
The alleged fraud came to light when Patel applied to have the purchased land entered in his name in government records. As part of the process, notices were sent to the recorded landowners. The actual owners then contacted Patel and showed him their genuine government revenue records. They allegedly told him that they had not sold the land and that unknown individuals had created counterfeit identity documents in their names.
The episode highlights the role of revenue records and owner notifications in detecting disputed property transactions. In this case, the verification process appears to have exposed a mismatch between the people named in the sale documents and the individuals recorded as the landowners. The complaint does not establish whether any government or banking officials were involved, and the allegations remain subject to police investigation.
After learning of the alleged fraud, Patel applied at the sub-registrar’s office to cancel the disputed documents and the agreement to sell. He later approached the police, naming the alleged organisers, the individuals who purportedly impersonated the landowners and the witnesses accused of signing with false identities. The complaint covers a total of 10 accused persons.
Police have registered a case alleging cheating, the use of forged documents as genuine and the opening of false bank accounts. The investigation is expected to examine how the identity documents were prepared, how the bank accounts were opened, the movement of the Rs 4.70 crore and the roles of the alleged impersonators and witnesses. The police inquiry remains ongoing.
