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efriede (coordinator)     17 July 2010

land mafia trying to steal land

the local "land mafia" are trying fraudulently to take over a piece of land that rightfully belongs to a religious society. Several people, including my family, who have little material wealth, but who were very devoted, have sacrificed a lot with hard-earned money and efforts to obtain the property that the "land mafia" is trying to steal. 

 

The “land mafia” have approached the Registrar of Societies, Roshnabad, Hardwar, Uttarkhand and falsified records that the original members of the society have resigned. They have put forward the names of people who never have been associated with the ashram as the new members. Since the land is registered on the name of the society, they are attempting to make themselves automatic owners of the land. We filed an objection through a local advocate and asked the Registrar to turn down their application for society registration because these people were frauds. We produced letters with the true members signatures denying that we had resigned and that these people had no association with our society and had forged documents but the Registrar dismissed our objection and is accepting the claim made by the fraudulent people who are claiming that the true members of the society have resigned.

 

Our land is the only piece of land that remains undeveloped in the neighbourhood.  No doubt the land has appreciated considerably and therefore eyed with greed and envy. Our society hired a local advocate to represent us .  However, I personally, am wary that the local advocate may be playing both sides against the middle.  He works for a local ashram and is associated with a local swami, whose background we do not know and so I am extremely worried that he may be trying to take advantage of us also. On the one hand, the advocate may be doing what is necessary by taking logical steps but in such a way that he is ineffective - so he cannot be blamed -  while at the same time allowing our situation to deteriorate by not advising us correctly or by delaying tactics, or not attending to the finer nuances of the situation or, if it is even possible, not advising us how to negotiate some kind of out-of-court resolution of our problem. 

 

So far, we have not yet proceeded to filing a court case.  But I am concerned that the advocate may have a hidden agenda and strategy. As we then become more vulnerable and dependent on him, and weary of the efforts involved, our members will fall prey to his swami's desire to take over the land for his own purposes - which has already actually been suggested. Our members seem to have been influenced by the suggestion that we donate the land to his ashram  and now I am wondering whether the swami's advocate is working in tandem with the "land mafia" - on one side as they present forged documents to say our members have resigned and there are new members, putting us in fear of losing our land - the swami comes to our rescue with his lawyer, presenting himself as our saviour, with the idea that he will carry forward our spiritual work.  I am having a challenge convincing our members that we may be in the hands of someone who is not working in our best interests nor would the swami put the lands to good purposes as he pretends.  Since I have neither met the swami nor his advocate, nor had an opportunity to investigate his affiliations, I could be wrong, and I cannot prove anything at the moment. My opinions are dismissed and am told that I am too suspicious. Given the current circumstances, my stance is better cautious than sorry. Which way to turn in such a situation? How does one find a trustworthy person to advise us? How can the Registrar take the word of fraudsters against the original members of the society? What recourse do we have when we are faced with outright and blatant fraud which is being accepted as the truth?  



Learning

 2 Replies

Anil Agrawal (Retired)     17 July 2010

Thanks it is land mafia which is known for land grabbing. It could have been Neta mafia.

No governance. Mafia take over.

efriede (coordinator)     19 July 2010

any ideas about what recourse a landowner can have to this crime?


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