Rajkot police has taken cognizance of a case involving dispute over a huge piece of land after mafia in Porbandar claimed its ownership.

However, this is not a solitary case of disputed land in which anti-social elements have started claiming ownership of the properties which remained vacant for years. Going by the number of the public notices claiming rights on land plots, it is an indication of the dark side of the booming real estate sector in the city.

Six complaints have been registered in the past fortnight in the matters not very different from this case. In all the cases, the modus operandi has emerged to be the same — the owner of the property is compelled to pay a huge sum to a goon to get entry on his own land.

The owners of many small and big land plots in Rajkot are stunned to suddenly come across notices written in a vernacular language saying that [their] land belongs to some another individual. In some cases, the actual owners of the plots are shocked to know that their properties have been sold to third parties through fake legal documents.

The deals for these properties, in most cases, were done several years back. But now, when real estate prices have shot up, different parties have been claiming rights over these plots.

Sample this: Hasmukh Gadhia, who is settled in England, found that three of his plots in Gandhigram bearing Survey numbers 517-518 have been sold by one Ramesh Nagolia by making a fake power of attorney. Gadhia has registered a case with the Gandhigram police.

Mumbai-based Shailee Vora has complained that her land having Survey numbers 99 and 100 have been sold by Kanti Hari and Manu Hari through fake powers of attorney.

Same is the plight of Dr Atul Rathod who has accused Suryadev Parmar of having sold his land (survey number 81) in Nana Mahuva. According to a complaint registered by Suresh Patel, one Ramesh Duga has encroached upon his land.

Most of these cases have come to light after the incident of assault on Kishor Kotecha by Jaypal Jadeja whom Kotecha alleges to have grabbed his land at Haripal Pal. The incident created uproar among real estate dealers, who approached the administration to take action in such cases.

The Commissioner of Police, Sudhir Sinha, said that his department had taken a serious note of the rise in the number of land grabbing cases in recent times.

He said, “The state government circular about police being cautious in registering FIRs in disputed land dealings has created some hesitation among junior police officers in taking cognizance of genuine cases.”