Rajkot: A Rs 5.50 lakh loan led to a trader having to pay Rs 1.07 crore to recover his land in Paddhari taluka of Rajkot district.A 25-year-old trader from Sarpadad village lodged a complaint against five persons, alleging they fraudulently obtained a registered sale deed for his nine-bigha plot by promising a loan and later demanded more than Rs 1.07 crore to return the property.The complainant, Pragnesh Zalavadiya, named Alpesh Donga, Akshit Akbari alias Happy Patel, Chandu Virdiya, Piyush Virdiya and alleged intermediary Hiren Lunagariya in the complaint filed at Paddhari police station.According to the complaint, Zalavadiya incurred losses of around Rs 41.50 lakh while running a garage in Rajkot in 2022. After selling his father’s house and taking a gold loan to clear debts, he remained in financial difficulty. Lunagariya allegedly offered to arrange a loan against his land and took him to Donga’s office, where he sought Rs 5.50 lakh with the land as collateral at 5% monthly interest.On Oct 22, 2022, Zalavadiya and his father went to the Paddhari sub-registrar’s office. He alleged that they were told to answer “yes” to the registrar’s questions and assured that a Satakhat (agreement to sell) would be executed. Instead, a registered sale deed was executed. The loan was transferred to his account five days later, while Rs 50,000 was taken in cash as advance interest.Zalavadiya said he discovered a month later that the document was a sale deed. When he sought its cancellation, he alleged the accused continued demanding money. In Oct 2023, he claimed to have paid Rs 9.86 lakh towards the principal and interest, but the document was not cancelled.The complainant further alleged that he was told Donga had raised around Rs 80 lakh against the land document and that more money was needed to secure its release. His family sold another property and arranged Rs 40 lakh, which was paid at Donga’s office.After further demands and threats of being implicated in a land-grabbing case, a settlement of Rs 54 lakh was allegedly reached for returning the land. Zalavadiya claimed he paid Rs 5.50 lakh by cheque and Rs 48.50 lakh in cash, after which the land was returned to him. He alleged that his total payment to recover the land amounted to Rs 1.07 crore.
