The Special Enquiry Wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on Friday busted a fake stamp paper racket and arrested a gang of 11 who were operating from the typing pool of Kandaya Bhavan, situated close to the Deputy Commissioner’s office .
Based on a tip-off, a team of police, led by DCP S.D. Sharanappa, raided the shop and recovered 2664 fake stamp papers, some of them dating back to the Mysore Maharaja period, and stampers, computers , printers and seals totally worth ₹5.11 lakh. The police have also seized fake stamp papers of old dates from 1990, 1995, 2002 and 2009 with fake GPA details to claim the ownership of the properties in and around Bengaluru.
The accused were identified as Vishwanath, Karthik, Venkatesh, Shamraju, Shashidhar, Kariyappa, Ravishankar, Shivashankarappa, Gureushankar, Raghava N. and Kishore. They would prepare the stamp papers of old dates and sell the same to land grabbers who want to file civil suits to claim the ownership of the property and later clinch a deal with the genuine landlords through out of court settlements. They would sell the stamp papers for prices depending on the value of the property and the dates, a police officer said.
“These fake stamp papers prepared by the accused are being used in various government offices to cheat and claim benefits since for the last few years. The accused even have network of stamp paper vendors at taluk offices in and around the city to run their racket,” the officer added.
They have been taken into custody and investigations are on to ascertain their network and beneficiaries.
