Panvel Fake Heirship Certificate Scam: Chargesheet Filed Against 5 Accused | Representative Image
Navi Mumbai: Panvel City Police have completed their investigation into a case related to fake heirship certificates issued from the Panvel Civil Court. As a result, a chargesheet has been filed in the Panvel First-Class Magistrate’s Court against five individuals, including three lawyers, a court employee, and a property agent.
Apart from this case, police are also investigating three other cases related to fake and forged court challans. The investigation into these cases is ongoing, and chargesheets will be filed soon.
The fake heirship certificate scam was exposed in November last year when it was discovered that forged heirship documents were being created by using fake signatures of judges and assistant superintendents, along with counterfeit court seals. Following a complaint, a special investigation team (SIT) was formed to probe the case.
As per the chargesheet of around 2000 pages, the first arrest in the case was of court employee Deepak Mohan Phad (32) on December 23. Further investigations revealed that the disputed fake heirship certificate was procured by property agent Sunil Upadhyay with the help of lawyers Adv. Amar Patwardhan and Adv. Yogesh Kelkar, using junior clerk Phad as an intermediary. Consequently, police arrested both lawyers on December 27.
During questioning, it was found that Adv. Gauri Kelkar, the sister of Adv. Yogesh Kelkar, had forged the judge’s signature on the fake heirship certificate. Further investigation revealed that the forged document had been handed over to property agent Sunil Upadhyay. As a result, police arrested both Gauri Kelkar and Sunil Upadhyay on January 21.
Currently, all five accused are in judicial custody at Taloja and Kalyan Adharwadi jails. After completing their four-month-long investigation, the special investigation team has now filed a chargesheet against all the accused in the Panvel First-Class Magistrate’s Court.
During the investigation, police discovered that court employee Phad had also forged challans and embezzled court funds. Three separate cases related to this fraud have been registered at Panvel City Police Station.
Police sources have confirmed that the investigation into these three additional cases linked to the fake heirship certificate scam is still underway. The police expect to complete the probe soon and file chargesheets in these cases as well.
