Franking, the traditional method of authorising a stamp paper, is now being exploited by miscreants to file fake civil suits to grab vacant, private land. The scamsters use the franking machine and stamp of the sub-registrar to falsify the documents.
The Criminal Investigation Department, which started probing the complaint by the Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps, has exposed a major scam where the miscreants used sophisticated tools to exploit the system.
Original documents are crucial when it comes to proving the ownership of any land. From the last 20 years, the registration, sale transactions and mortgaging of land have been taking place through the Bhoomi software. So those engaged in land scams create fake sale or grant documents going back more than 40-50 years, mainly using the franking machine.
For instance, to show a (fake) land transaction in 1965, a fake stamp paper is created with all the looks of an old document. As franking has the same authorisation as e-stamping, the printed documents are used for the scam.
In the sub-registrars' office in Bengaluru and other districts, franking machines have been given a specific number (Gandhinagar-PB 6924 , Yelahanka-PB 6944 etc). The documents created by the machines are registered in a separate book, along with details of the amount of transaction and date.
The franking machines of Yelahanka, Kengeri, Shivanjinagar and Gandhinagar are being used to create documents for sale deed, extracts, will, general power of attorney, mutation and others. These are used to grab the land of unsuspecting poor, middle class and NRI land owners.
Also read: How land grabbing is perpetrated
Essentially, the fake documents claim that the land has been granted to a person 10 or 20 years ago. The same documents are presented before the court. All the while, the original land owner remains unaware of the developments.
M Manjula had complained about one such scam in Whitefield. When investigated, officials found documents purportedly franked and signed by sub-registrars of Yelahanka, Kengeri and Shivajinagar. An FIR was registered by Ulsoor police in this regard. It was found that the documents submitted to court had the stamp and forged signature of the sub-registrar.