In the forged heirship certificate scam that was unearthed in the month of December last year, more arrests have been made making a total of five lawyers and two court employees, as accused. The accused allegedly misappropriated Rs 66 lakh in court fees, with more individuals under police scrutiny.
Among those arrested, three lawyers—Amar Patwardhan, Nitin Kelkar, and Gauri Kelkar—along with court clerk Deepak Phad, were taken into custody on December 27. Later, Dhairyashil Bandivadekar, an assistant superintendent of Panvel civil court, was also arrested. Two more lawyers, identified as Sanket Patil and Vishal Mundkar, were arrested last week and are currently in police custody.
According to police investigations, the accused manipulated the court fee system by depositing only 10% of the collected fees while siphoning off the remaining amount. Out of the Rs 66 lakh misappropriated, Rs 62 lakh has been recovered. Authorities are preparing to file a fourth case, with more arrests expected soon.
The scam came to light when Kamaladevi Narayandas Gupta attempted to use her heirship certificate to claim a plot under CIDCO’s 12.5% land scheme and it was found to be a forged certificate. CIDCO officials rejected the document as it did not appear in their online records. When Advocate Mahesh Deshmukh applied for a certified copy from the court, it was discovered that the document was forged, with fake seals and signatures of judicial officers. This led to a formal complaint being filed with the Panvel City Police in November.
“We are now investigating the involvement of additional court staff, real estate brokers, and CIDCO officials in the case and further investigations are on,” a police officer from Panvel City police station said.
