Five held for land scam worth Rs 450 cr in Pune

Pune, Oct 27 (UNI) The police have unearthed a land scam worth Rs 450 crore here by arresting five people, including two corporators, in this connection.

The accused -- Anil Jadhav and Shankar Pawar, both Congress corporators of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Shivaji Gadate-Patil, former corporator Satish Dhotre and Shivaji Chowgule, a former Runwal employee -- were arrested yesterday, police said today.

The matter came to light when the builder, Pradeep Runwal, fed up with extortion threats from his former employee and local Congress corporators of exposing his dealings, approached the Anti-Extortion Cell with taped recordings of their conversations.

They have booked Runwal for allgedly forging land documents of 270 farmers and mortgaging the same for Rs 450 crore in banks.

Besides, he also forged signatures of about 35 deceased farmers.

All the accused have been remanded to police custody till October 31, police added.

UNI