Man Arrested For Showing Dead Mother Alive on Paper For Property

Sunil Gupta, wife Radha and son Abhishek were produced in court here after they were held from their Mumbai home.

Representational image.

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A Mumbai-based man, his wife and son were arrested by the Noida police on the complaint of his brother for alleged fraud, including showing their dead mother as alive on papers, to pocket her properties worth Rs 285 crore, officials said Tuesday, 18 December.

Sunil Gupta, his wife Radha and son Abhishek were produced in a court after they were held from their Hiranandani Gardens home in Mumbai's Powai area on 15 December, the police said.

An FIR was registered at Sector 20 police station on directions of the district court, which was moved by Vijay Gupta who alleged fraud by his elder brother Sunil Gupta, his family and five others in the five-year-old case, an official said.

After their mother's demise, Gupta had created a fake certificate that she is alive and got documents forged to get a company fraudulently transferred in his and his family's name causing the complainant a loss of Rs 285 crore, Station House Officer Manoj Kumar Pant said.

Their mother Kamlesh Rani, who passed away on 7 March 2011, had properties worth Rs 285 crore, including a candle manufacturing factory in Mumbai which has an office in Noida also, according to police.

She had stated in her will that after her demise, the properties would be divided among her sons. But Vijay Gupta moved the district court alleging his brother had forged documents and got the company, in which he was also a partner, entirely under his control, an official privy to the probe said.

Sunil Gupta had presented documents at the Registrar office in Mumbai showing he was getting the candle manufacturing company as a 'gift deed' from his mother seven days after her demise. As per law, a gift deed cannot be made in the name of dead people but he forged documents to claim that she was alive, the official said.

Vijay has also alleged that Sunil Gupta made financial transactions worth Rs 29 crore from the company soon after their mother's demise to a company owned by his friend without consulting him, according to the complaint.

He also alleged that when he opposed his elder brother's tactics he was thrashed by three unidentified men who also threatened to kill him, the police said.

After gathering evidence, a team of the Noida police led by SSI Harendra Singh went to Mumbai and brought Gupta, his wife and one son from their home on transit remand. They were produced in the court here and sent to jail, Inspector Pant said.

The accused have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 420 (cheating and fraud), 467 (Forgery of a valuable security, will or authority to make or transfer any valuable security, or to receive any money, etc), 506 (criminal intimidation), among others, he added.