Two army brothers from Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh, took a loan of Rs. 25 lakhs each from a bank and bought land in a posh colony of the city for investment purposes. But, after some time, they came to know that the land they had purchased did not even exist. When they complained to the police, they came to know that, like them, many others had unknowingly become victims of such fraudulent land deals. This was the work of a high profile organized criminal gang, which had been operating for more than a decade.
But, 2020 batch IPS officer Anukriti Sharma busted the whole syndicate and sent its masterminds, land mafia leader Sudhir Goyal and his goons, to jail. By doing so, she has given hope to dozens of people who till now were running from door to door in search of justice. Facing immense pressure from various stakeholders in this case from the beginning, Ms. Sharma did not move back even once and did what must be done in this case – fight for justice for the people.
Indian Masterminds interacted with Ms. Anukriti Sharma, who is currently ASP and Nodal officer of Mission Shakti in Bulandshahr, UP, to get details about this case.
THE CASE
The Sudhir gang had sold 11 illegal colonies, having more than 100 plots each, around the city. To take people into confidence, the colonies were given religious names like Shiva, Shivang, Neelkanth, Radhika, etc.
This was organized crime, in which someone is shown a plot of land but the deed is made for some other plot. Later, the buyer comes to know that the actual land he paid for belongs to someone else, or somebody’s house is already there. At times, there are even many claimants for the same plot of land.
When the buyer used to ask for possession of the land, Sudhir’s men used to threaten them to give the deed back. Then Sudhir used to get that land transferred in his name but not pay any money.
Ms. Sharma said, “I still have such cases of many people where Sudhir has taken the money but no one has the possession of the land. Even after he went to jail, I am receiving applications. Today, a complaint has come where there are 3 claimants for plot number 10 and 40 for farm number 39.”
Sudhir and his men used to always look for people who lived outside and wanted to buy land as investment, as such people do less investigation and if the matter gets worse, they want to fix it as soon as possible because they do not have much time with them. That’s why, the gang used to target soldiers or policemen from outside the district more.
They used to threaten those who complained against Sudhir and pressurize them for meager settlement. In some cases, even false rape cases were filed against the complainants, after they came to know about Sudhir’s fraud and asked for return of their money.
In another modus operandi, Sudhir used to get a power of attorney or agreement from a land owner, in which, the owner used to give the rights to sell or purchase to Sudhir. And the money had to go into the land owner’s account. But Sudhir used to keep his hold on those accounts and also keep the owner’s signed check books with him. More than 100 people have claimed that their check books are with Sudhir and his goons.
Sudhir has made immense wealth and black money by doing such frauds with people. He has a convoy of luxury cars and many villas. To hoodwink the public, he also used to do charity work to keep people’s eyes off his ill deeds.
EARLY SIGN
In October 2022, Ms. Anukriti Sharma got posted in Bulandshahr. After her posting, she started receiving applications from a colony named Radhika Enclave in Kotwali Dehat, a police station in her circle. People alleged that the deed of sale was made in their name, but the possession had not been given till date. And even the money had not been returned. This colony belonged to the land mafia leader Sudhir Goyal.
Ms. Sharma warned Sudhir Goyal several times and asked him to settle the cases. But the complaints did not stop.
Meanwhile, influential Sudhir started advancing the date of possession in the belief that Ms. Sharma would get transferred soon. When the officer came to know about this, she again warned Sudhir and clearly told him that he cannot get away with such fraud and she will register the cases so that these can be followed up later also.
That Sudhir was so influential can be understood from the fact that everyone from the local trade body to the local media kept advocating for him. The trade union had even planned to protest against Ms. Sharma regarding the Sudhir case. But, finally, when Ms. Sharma opened Sudhir’s history-sheet, everyone was shocked!
She said, “He had created a well organized nexus with the support of many elite people. He had a lot of money, so he could easily manage them.”
THE INVESTIGATION
Thereafter, Ms. Sharma started proper investigation. She made a combined report of all the applications related to Sudhir that had come to her and placed that report in front of the SP City. In the case of section 420, the case is registered only on the basis of the investigation report of the Circle Officer. After this, the SP ordered an FIR. Initially, a case was made with 7 complainants.
Meanwhile, Ms. Sharma started investigating Sudhir’s past criminal records. It came to light that there were 10 cases against him, out of which he was chargesheeted in five.
Then she did a detailed investigation of every complaint and made a separate case for each. From the investigation of all these cases, it emerged that only Sudhir and his wife were mentioned in the land deeds, but, also, in almost all the cases of the last 10 years, two witnesses to the deeds were common.
A deed of land was made 3 to 4 times, even. In one such case, there are more than 3 claimants to a particular plot in one his colonies.
CORROBORATION
However, despite all her efforts, Ms. Sharma was not being able to highlight this case on a bigger front. But, as no criminal can have peace for long, a farmer committed suicide in Hapur on September 30 this year, and his video went viral. Before committing suicide, the farmer made this video in which he is talking about Sudhir.
The farmer alleged that he is committing suicide because of Sudhir, because he had grabbed his land worth Rs. 2.5 crore. And he has done this to so many people. After that, the farmer commited suicide by consuming poison.
But, Hapur Police did not even register the FIR of the farmer’s family till 5 November. When the video came to the notice of Bulandshahr Police, the case against Sudhir not only got strengthened, it also put pressure on Hapur Police to take action. After this, an FIR against Sudhir was lodged in Hapur as well.
Ms. Sharma said, “Under ‘Section 14 of the Gangster Act’, we will seize his property and we will also find out his further nexus. He is a classic white collar criminal.”
THE END
Shudhir Goyal was absconding since September and even went hiding in Nepal for few days. But, Ms. Sharma took the help of some of her batchmates from Nepal and put pressure on Sudhir. Finally, he came back to India, but was still on the run.
On 10 and 11 November, Bulandhahr Police chargesheeted Sudhir, while the DM approved his Gangster file on 29 November. After this, police booked him.
Finally, Sudhir was caught from Pilibhit, when he was on his way to Nainital. And, he along with 5 of his associates were sent to jail.
IPS Anukriti is also preparing a report regarding his black money and immense wealth, created with fraudulent means. She will soon submit the report to ED regarding Sudhir’s money laundering.
