2 Charged for Property Fraud Following NRI’s Complaint in Punjab

Two Indians in Ludhiana, Punjab, were charged for fraud after a United States-based NRI accused them of forging power of attorney to transfer his property.

One of the accused, Tarandeep Singh, “connived with some person who impersonated the real owner-cum-complainant Inder Singh and fraudulently prepared the power of attorney pertaining to the property,” according to the police First Information Report (FIR). “During the perusal of the documents, it was found that the power of attorney was executed in the name of Tarandeep Singh. Even the photograph of the complainant does not match with the photo on the power of attorney which proved that it was a fraud. The complainant arrived in India on October 21, 2017, whereas the power of attorney was registered on August 16, 2017.”

Suspects Tarandeep of Badowal village in Haibowal and Inder Singh, a resident of Raj Guru Nagar, were charged under Section 419, 420, 120B, 465, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC, according to the Tribune.

The NRI, Inder Singh Grewal, said that a man posed to be him and transferred the power of attorney of the property to Tarandeep. He wants the duo to be put behind bars immediately. He owns 7 acres of land in Fathepur Awana village, where he has also built a house.

This is the latest incident this year involving fraud against a Non-Resident Indian in the country.

In August, the Gurugram district court sentenced a man to a six-year jail term for selling a US-based NRI’s property using fake documents.

In January, United States-based NRI Ashwani Kumar lodged a complaint against his brother Pawan Kumar for defrauding him of lakhs of rupees. Ashwani, originally from Phagwara, had given power of attorney to his brother to care for the inherited property. The power of attorney was later terminated but the brother misappropriated lakhs of rupees from his NRI account in a local branch of a public sector bank in 2011, according to PTI.