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The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Surat City Police has arrested the alleged mastermind behind a Rs 5.75 crore land fraud, in which a buyer was allegedly cheated on the pretext of selling agricultural land in Kathor village. The accused, Ravi Madhubhai Koladiya, had been absconding since the scam came to light earlier this year. According to the police, Koladiya orchestrated the fraud by impersonating the original landowners, who were settled abroad, and using forged signatures and fake bank accounts to siphon off crores of rupees. Two months ago, the EOW had arrested four employees of Yes Bank and IDBI Bank, along with a Vodafone Idea distributor, for their alleged roles in facilitating the scam. Police said Koladiya, a land broker, had come into contact with the original owners of agricultural land bearing Block Nos. 479, 480, and 481 in Kathor village. Although the owners had expressed their willingness to sell the land, they were living overseas. Investigators allege that Koladiya prepared forged sale documents and entered into a deal with buyer Piyush Saspara, who paid a total of Rs 5.75 crore through bank transactions and cash. The probe revealed that Koladiya falsely showed the landowners as being present in India and forged their signatures on the transaction documents. To encash the payments, he allegedly conspired with Yes Bank officials Sandip Piludariya, Azad Pathan, and Shivani Patel to open fake bank accounts in the names of the original landowners. Around Rs 2.80 crore was withdrawn through these accounts. .........
