A 73-year-old tribal woman from Dugad village in Bhiwandi was duped by fraudsters who used her details to impersonate a dead woman to claim government compensation of over Rs 90 lakh for land. The land belonged to the deceased woman and was acquired by the government for Mumbai-Vadodara Highway works. The victim, Bhagirathi Rama Mukne, learnt of the fraud after getting notices from the Sub-Divisional Officer, asking her to return Rs 32 lakh. The woman was roped into the scam by her relatives allegedly in connivance with the fraudsters. 

The fraudsters, not yet identified, learnt that two plots of land measuring 1,500 square metre each belonging to Thaki Sakhya Savar were acquired by the government. However, Savar passed away in 2011, leaving no one else to claim the land in the same village as Mukne or the compensation. The fraudsters then found Mukne, who is illiterate, and allegedly roped in her daughter Baby and grandson Bhushan Ashok Nandviskar to get Mukne’s fingerprint and other details to make fake IDs, including Aadhaar card, using Savar’s name.