4 held for misappropriating land acquisition compensation of tribals in Thane district

Thane: Four persons have been arrested for allegedly misappropriating Rs 74.5 lakh compensation meant for ten tribals whose land had been acquired for the Mumbai-Vadodara Highway in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Friday.

Based on a complaint, a cheating case has been registered at the Badlapur Kulgaon police station against seven persons, four of whom have been arrested, and a search has been launched for three others, senior inspector Govind Patil said.

He said the fraud came to light when Jijabai Divekar, a resident of Ambernath taluka, lodged a complaint on January 24, alleging misappropriation of compensation amount from land acquisition for the highway project.

The official said Divekar alleged that her agricultural land was acquired for the project, and Rs 5.7 crore was deposited in her account as compensation. As per legal requirements, a portion of this amount was later transferred to the accounts of ten rightful heirs.

As per the complaint, one of the accused, an acquaintance of Divekar, allegedly manipulated the landowners by obtaining their thumbprints on bank receipts on the pretext of assisting them in withdrawing the money in February 2021.

Instead of handing over the sum, he gave them only Rs 1 lakh and siphoned off Rs 9 lakh into a separate account, the official said, adding that the fraudulent transactions continued and Rs 74.5 lakh were diverted to unauthorised accounts.