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AURANGABAD: Five suspects , including three women, have been booked on the charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy for allegedly forging a farmer’s Aadhaar card and preparing a sale deed for a plot in a prime location in the outskirts of the city in Golwadi area.

Police said that a 40-year-old woman, who is the key accused in the case, has been arrested and that a manhunt has been launched for the rest of the suspects.

As per the complaint lodged by Parvatibai Lala Salambad, a resident of Golwadi, the suspects hatched a conspiracy and prepared her forged Aadhaar card. The suspects used the Aadhaar card as an identity proof and prepared a bogus sale deed on December 24, 2018.

Based on the sale deed prepared, the suspects carried out another sale deed in the name of three suspects on the very same day. Using the forged documents, the suspects tried usurping the land by encroaching into the plot. When their attempts didnt bear any fruit, they resorted to force to drive Salambad and her family out of the farmland.

Police said that the farmer’s family reached out to them and lodged a complaint after enduring the dispute with the suspects for over 40 days.

City Chowk police have registered a case under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable will, security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 506 (criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult for causing breach of peace) and 511 (attempt to commit an offence) of the IPC on Saturday.

Police said that as the alleged forgery of the Aadhaar card and using it in sale deeds was carried out at the premises of the office of the registrar of properties, the offence has been registered at City Chowk police station.

