Stamp vendor arrested in fake challans scam

VIJAYAWADA: The Krishna district police have arrested stamp vendor Ram Dhiraj in the fake challans scam in the Mandavalli sub-registrar office and recovered Rs 1.02 crore.

Krishna district SP Siddhartha Kaushal said Mandavalli joint sub-registrar Subramanyam lodged a complaint about use of fake challans in the sub-registrar office. Document writer Medipalli Ram Dheeraj paid only 15,92,158 for registration of 568 documents through 640 fake challans against the original amount of Rs 2,68,04,943 which resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 2,52,12,785 to the government.

The SP said the two accused had paid only Rs 1,981 through seven challans against the original amount of Rs 1,55,800 and submitted fake challans for registrations. A similar cheating was registered in the registration of documents. Dhiraj was arrested from Lokumudi village. His father was also a document writer. The son got the stamp vendor licence in 2013.

The government had provided a facility of paying stamp duty fee through CFMS AP State Portal for document registrations. Dhiraj started paying small amount challans and used to switch them to original-amount challans by making changes to the challans via photoshop application.

The accused now paid Rs 1.02 crore related to 450 challans into the government account and the police initiated measures to recover the rest of the money.

The SP praised the efforts of the police teams towards arresting the accused and warned of stern action against those who tried to cheat the government in the registrations.

Deputy chief minister Dharmana Krishnadas has said they have taken steps to prevent irregularities in view of the fake challan scam in registration offices.

He stated this while taking part in the comprehensive land survey ground validation programme as part of Mee Bhoomi – Maa Hami scheme at Malleswaram near Ongole on Thursday. The scheme was a historical decision of Chief Minister Jagan to resurvey the lands in the entire state, he said, while referring to the Rs 1,000 crore gigantic exercise using the most advanced technology.

He said such a survey was taken up by the British government some 100 years back. The deputy CM attributed the major operation to errors in the land records with respect to measurements and maps, which are reasons for land disputes.

Expressing confidence in completing the resurvey by October 2022, he urged officials to come out with error-free pure land records in the state.

At the event, energy minister Srinivasa Reddy thanked Krishnadas for selecting Malleswaram in Prakasam district, on a pilot basis, for re-survey. Collector of Prakasam, Pravin Kumar and joint collector (revenue) JV Murali were present.

Earlier, Krishnadas took part in a similar programme at Kavali mandal. He said the land survey will be held in 166 villages covering 1.65 lakh acres, on over 95,025 survey numbers in nine mandals of Kavali mandal. This would put an end to land disputes in future, he said.

Kavali legislator Ramireddy Pratapkumar Reddy, Nellore district collector Chakradhar Babu and RDO Seena Nayak were present.