MUMBAI: On Monday, police moved a special PMLA court seeking custody of former councillor and builder Sitaram Gupta in connection with a land-grab case in which he is accused of fraudulently selling a 6,000-square-metre plot belonging to a Christian housing society for illegal construction.
Event Context
The FIR, registered on June 27, alleges that Gupta forged property documents and orchestrated the sale of the land by using an impersonator posing as its original owner.
Senior police inspector Sanjay Hazare said Gupta, a former Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) councillor, is the prime accused. “He, along with another person by the name of Michael Moses, forged documents by arranging for a person to impersonate the original owner before selling the land to two developers,” Hazare said.
The fraud came to light after the two developers fell out over a financial dispute and approached the police.
Team Analysis
During the investigation, police found that the land belonged to Citizen Co-operative Housing Society, a residential complex established for members of the Christian community. However, documents submitted by the developers claimed that Satish Tiwari and Sanjay Sharma had purchased the land from its original owner, Leslie John Hector Lobo, in 2024 and had the property registered in their names.
Police said Gupta and Moses allegedly forged the sale documents using fake Aadhaar and other identity documents in Lobo’s name after arranging for an impersonator to pose as him.
Citizen Co-operative Housing Society was formed in the mid-1990s after Ignatius Mines Francis, Frederick D’Souza and Leslie John Lobo, then directors of Citizen Bank, acquired 60 acres in Naigaon East and developed 36 residential buildings for the Christian community.
Investigators found that Francis died in 1998, while D’Souza, 85, lives in Neral and Lobo, 90, resides in Dadar. Owing to age and ill health, Lobo had authorised Brian Dominic Menezes, 71, through a power of attorney to manage the society’s affairs. Menezes later filed the police complaint.
Match Outlook
Menezes had earlier told HT that while the society had already developed 36 buildings, a 6,000-square-metre plot near the mangroves could not be legally developed. “The scamsters sold this plot to two builders, who constructed illegal chawls on it,” he said.
Based on the complaint, police registered an FIR against Gupta, Moses, Tiwari and Sharma on June 27. Moses was arrested on Sunday.
Gupta was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2024 in a ₹37 crore money laundering case linked to the construction of 41 illegal buildings and an alleged land-grab racket in the Vasai-Virar region.
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According to the ED, Gupta used his political influence to illegally grab around 60 acres of land, construct unauthorised buildings using forged documents and sell units to unsuspecting buyers. The buildings, constructed without statutory approvals on reserved land, were later ordered to be demolished by courts, displacing around 2,500 families.
