Sanand police of Ahmedabad district on Tuesday arrested the owner of Popular Builders, Raman Patel, in a three-decade-old land forgery case, through a transfer warrant, from Sabarmati Central Jail.
Raman had been granted bail by a principal district judge on Tuesday morning and was set to be released from the jail, where he has been incarcerated since August 2020.
Inspector Ramesh Jadhav of Sanand police said, “We arrested Raman Patel on a transfer warrant from Sabarmati Central Jail before he was released.”
Raman and his brother, Dashrath Patel, were CBI witnesses in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.
He was incarcerated following accusations of attempted murder and domestic violence by his daughter-in-law in August 2020.
Subsequently, several FIRs were filed against the brothers for allegedly occupying land parcels using forged documents.
According to the latest FIR filed with Sanand police on Tuesday, a farmer named Kanu Patel, 58, from Chekhla village in Sanand, alleged that his family had two pieces of ancestral land measuring about 62,500 square metres. These land plots had been categorized ‘restricted use’ by the revenue department.
Kanu alleged that Raman Patel forged documents from the Sanand mamlatdar, cheated Kanu’s father Jiva Patel, and made forged sale deeds and grabbed the two plots in 1994 and 1996.
Kanu inquired into the case and the Sanand mamlatdar informed him through official correspondence in December 2022 that he did not pass any order converting the land use purpose. Kanu said Raman did not even pay him or his family any money.
The land parcel in question was shown to be owned by a total of 52 firms owned by Raman and his family members, the complaint states.
Sanand police registered a complaint for breach of trust, cheating, forgery, forgery of valuable security, forgery for the purpose of cheating, using a fake document as genuine and criminal conspiracy against Raman and the partners and office-bearers of the 52 firms.Sources in Sanand police said Raman’s other family members, who were earlier booked by police and released, may also be arrested in the new case.