Six including sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment for grabbing French citizen’s land in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: Chief judicial magistrate E M K Yashwanthrao Ingersol on Thursday sentenced six people, including a retired sub-registrar, to five years of rigorous imprisonment for forging documents and grabbing a plot from a French citizen in Puducherry.

The magistrate also sentenced them to three years of rigorous imprisonment for cheating by impersonation, two years for forgery and one year for using a forged document or electronic record as genuine. All the terms will run concurrently.

According to assistant public prosecutor S Lokkeshvaran, Narmadha Zeneviya, wife of Munusamy Selvakumar, a French citizen in Muthialpet, bought a plot from one Alexander in 1987. When she commenced construction in 2015, she faced obstruction by S Palaniraja, 53, who claimed ownership based on forged sale deeds from A Amalorpavanathan, 53.

The French citizen lodged a complaint with the CB-CID. Investigations by the agency revealed that a seller named R Balakrishnan, 87, impersonated the owner of the land with fake indemnity bonds and power of attorney, leading to patta transfers in the names of Palaniraja’s wife, P Rajalakshmi, 41 and her friend, D Rajeswari, 41, with the help of the then sub-registrar R Kalaimani, 65 and A Subramaniam, 87.

The CB-CID booked Palaniraja, Rajalakshmi, Rajeswari, Kalaimani, Kalaimani and Balakrishnan under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by impersonation), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code. Balakrishnan died during the course of trial. Others were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment.