Four arrested for embezzling tribal land compensation in Thane

Four individuals have been arrested for allegedly embezzling Rs 745 lakh meant as compensation for ten tribal landowners whose property was acquired for the MumbaiVadodara Highway project in Maharashtrarsquos Thane district police officials confirmed on FridayAccording to PTI a case of cheating has been registered at the Badlapur Kulgaon police station against seven individuals While four accused have been taken into custody a search operation is underway to apprehend the remaining three senior inspector Govind Patil statedThe fraudulent activity came to light after Jijabai Divekar a resident of Ambernath taluka filed a complaint on January 24 alleging that the compensation amount which was legally due to the rightful heirs had been misappropriatedAs per PTI reports Divekarrsquos agricultural land was acquired for the highway project following which a compensation amount of Rs 57 crore was deposited in her bank account In compliance with legal protocols a portion of this amount was then transferred to the accounts of ten other rightful heirsHowever one of the accused known to Divekar allegedly deceived the landowners by obtaining their thumbprints on bank receipts under the pretext of assisting them in withdrawing the money This fraudulent act took place in February 2021 Instead of handing over the rightful sums the accused provided each individual with only Rs 1 lakh while siphoning off Rs 9 lakh into a separate account PTI reportsAccording to the complaint this pattern of fraudulent transactions continued over time ultimately leading to the diversion of Rs 745 lakh into unauthorised accounts Police officials have launched a detailed investigation into the matter to trace the remaining accused and recover the misappropriated fundsMaha Lawyer his brother booked for holding 2 tribal men captive for months over land compensation in ThanePolice have registered a case against a lawyer and his brother at Shahapur inThanedistrict for allegedly kidnapping and holding two tribal men captive for two months asking them to pay a portion of the land compensation money to them an official said on SaturdayThe case has been registered against the accused identified as Vitthal Desle an advocate and his brother Dhanaji Desle of Khanivare village in Murbad tehsil by Thane district rural policeThe accused are on the run he saidThe two tribal men who are siblings from Poklyachi Wadi in Shahapur have lodged a complaint against the accused duoAs per the complaint the land owned by the victims have been acquired by the government for a dam project The advocate and his brother approached the tribal siblings with a promise that they would help them get suitable compensation for their land On July 21 they took the villagers to their house on the pretext of discussing the matter However they held them captive till September 23 police saidThe accused sought 60 per cent of the compensation amount that thetribalbrothers were to receive They threatened the victims that if they tried to approach the police they would be killed the complaint saidOn September 23 the accused brought the victims to the registrars office and asked them to sign certain documents which the latter refused to do At that time the family members of the victims rescued the duo Six days later they lodged the complaint police saidThe accused have been booked under IPC sections 356 kidnapping or abduction with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person 323 voluntarily causing hurt and 506 criminal intimidation and also sections of the SCST Prevention of Atrocities Act at Kinhavali police stationWith inputs from PTI