The Athwa Lines Police have made four additional arrests, including a female bank employee, in connection with a high-profile land scam in Surat. The scam involved the attempted fraudulent sale of a 40-bigha land parcel valued at Rs 100 crore, located in Bhesan village. The property belongs to an elderly Parsi man and was targeted by Mukesh Mendpara, believed to be the mastermind behind the scheme.
Mendpara, with the help of a lookalike named Zakir from Gir Somnath, orchestrated the plan to sell the land using forged documents. Among those recently arrested are Hitesh Patawala, the Branch Manager of RBL Bank’s Vesu Branch, along with two Sales Officers from the same bank, Suraj Tiwari and Kirankumar Sonar. Additionally, Smita Shah, an employee of ICICI Bank, was also detained.
The arrested bank officials are accused of opening a bogus account, relying on fake Aadhaar and PAN cards. Into this account, a sum of Rs 3.41 crore was deposited as part of the fraudulent sale for 14 bighas of the land.
Earlier, another accused, Akbar Mia Nathumiya, had been arrested and produced in court, where he was remanded in custody for three days. Investigators say the latest arrests are based on revelations made during Nathumiya’s interrogation, according to PI G M Hadiya.
The investigation is ongoing, with authorities continuing to probe the deeper involvement of the individuals linked to the attempted fraudulent sale.