Belagavi, 04 September (H.S.): An 80-year-old woman has been arrested in Belagavi for allegedly impersonating a landowner, fabricating property documents and fraudulently selling land worth crores of rupees, police said.

The accused, identified as Mandakini Parishwadkar, a resident of Ganesh Colony in Vadgaon, allegedly created forged documents relating to property belonging to another person and used them to execute an illegal sale. The suspected fraud came to light after one of the property owners lodged a complaint, prompting police to investigate the transaction.

According to the complaint, Plot No. 2313, bearing CTS No. 944 at Mahantesh Nagar on Kanabargi Road, belonged to Ratna Yashwant Maliyukar.

Police allege that Mandakini impersonated Ratna and prepared forged documents with the intention of illegally transferring the property. Investigators said the transaction dated back to 2003.

As part of the alleged fraud, Mandakini reportedly appeared before the Belagavi North Sub-Registrar's Office posing as the legitimate property owner. She allegedly had her photograph taken through the webcam at the registration office and provided her thumb impression and signature as part of the documentation required for the property transaction.

The land was subsequently sold to another person on the strength of the allegedly fabricated documents.

The suspected irregularities remained undetected for years until the original property owner approached the police and sought an investigation. The subsequent probe allegedly revealed the impersonation and manipulation of property records.

Police have arrested Mandakini and are investigating whether she was involved in similar fraudulent land transactions involving other properties in Belagavi.

Investigators are also expected to examine the registration records and other documents connected with the transaction to determine whether other individuals were involved in facilitating the alleged fraud.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Arun Lakshman