Ahmedabad: Ahmedabad Rural police on Sunday arrested Dashrath Patel, a promoter of Popular Builders, in connection with a land cheating case dating back to 1982. Patel, who was declared a proclaimed absconder, was apprehended from Nathdwara in Rajasthan, said Omprakash Jat, superintendent of police, Ahmedabad Rural.Police said the offence was registered in 2022 following findings by a special investigation team (SIT) of the district collectorate. “After exhausting all legal remedies, the accused absconded. He has now been arrested and brought to Gujarat,” Jat said.According to the FIR, complainant Ramkrushna Acharya, a resident of Green Leaves Apartments in Sola, alleged that Patel, along with Raman Patel and one Saryudasji Bava, forged documents to illegally occupy a plot in Godhavi village in Ahmedabad district. The land, measuring around 63,772 square metres, originally belonged to Acharya’s grandfather, Shatrughnadasji. Acharya stated that Shatrughnadasji had only one son, Gordhandasji, and passed away on Feb 4, 1991. However, revenue records allegedly showed that Saryudasji was projected as Shatrughnadasji’s son, enabling transfer of the land to his name on Nov 13, 1982.Police said that Raman and Dashrath Patel subsequently got the same plot transferred to their names on Aug 5, 1983. The complainant further alleged that documents falsely mentioned Shatrughnadasji’s death as occurring in 2001 instead of 1991.Officials from the local crime branch (LCB) said Acharya earlier approached the SIT probing land-grabbing cases. The SIT reportedly found discrepancies in the records, leading to the registration of an FIR at Bopal police station in 2022.
