Vadodara, Sep 20 (IANS): An elderly woman in Gujarat’s Vadodara was duped of her ancestral property valued at Rs 1.93 crore which was fraudulently taken over by two known acquaintances, an official said.

He said that the case was reported in Sherkhi village near Vadodara where a 71-year-old woman filed a complaint at Vadodara Taluka Police Station after discovering that her ancestral land, was valued at Rs 1.93 crore.

The victim has been identified as Jeevaben Natwarsinh Rathod, who agreed to sell the land based on an oral agreement but was paid only Rs 16.66 lakh, with the remaining Rs 1.76 crore unpaid.

According to the complaint, the fraudsters, Gajendrasinh Pratapsinh Parmar and Yogendrasinh Jagdevsinh Raulji, convinced Rathod to sign a sale agreement without fully disclosing the terms.

Trusting them, Natwarsinh signed the agreement and accepted cheques worth Rs two lakh. However, after visiting a government office, it was revealed that the cheques were actually for Rs 40 lakh.

Further investigations showed that Rs 23 lakh in cheques bounced due to insufficient funds. Despite initially promising to settle the amount, the accused paid only Rs 16.66 lakh and failed to complete the agreed payment of Rs 1.93 crore.

Natwarsinh has since lodged a complaint against Parmar and Raulji for fraudulently acquiring her land.

On September 16, the CID Crime took over the investigation into an organised gang involved in land fraud across the state, disguising their activities as land procurement for religious institutions or cattle shelters.

Minister of State for Home, Harsh Sanghavi, had directed the CID Crime to investigate these cases, acknowledging that citizens were being defrauded through a specific modus operandi.

The official statement further mentioned that the state government has been aware of the gang's operations for some time, though the full extent of the fraud is still under investigation.

Cases have been reported from Viramgam, Naroda, Varachha, and other locations.