Team Herald
PANJIM: The Supreme Court on Monday quashed a cheating case against Mandrem MLA Jit Arolkar regarding alleged land grabbing and fraudulent sale of a property by him.
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A bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan allowed the appeal filed by Arolkar against the decision of the High Court of Bombay at Goa, dismissing a petition filed by Arolkar seeking the quashing of the cheating case.
On October 26, 2020, the Pernem police lodged an FIR against Arolkar regarding allegations of cheating under Section 420 of the IPC. Later, the case was transferred to the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Economic Offences Cell (EOC).
In March 2023, the High Court of Bombay at Goa dismissed the criminal writ petition filed by the Mandrem MLA seeking to quash the FIR against him in connection with the 1.44 lakh square metres of land at Dhargalim.
In July 2022, Rawloo Khalap, who claims to be the co-owner of the property has filed a complaint against Arolkar alleging that he grabbed the land and created over 200 plots in the property while illegally and fraudulently executing sale deeds with third parties and selling the entire property in connivance with the Pernem revenue officials and by concealing the complainant’s ownership rights.
Khalap had accused Arolkar of selling a property, co-owned by the former and defrauding him of Rs 25.6 crore. The sale allegedly took place between 2013 and 2018 without the proper conversion of land, subdivision, or development of the entire property, the complainant had stated.
Arolkar had argued that he was acting as a power of attorney holder for two other co-owners and that Khalap was not an owner of the property.
