The Uttar Pradesh Police has arrested former Shiv Sena MLA Pawan Pandey in connection with a case of cheating and forgery from Barabanki district, an official statement said.
Champa Devi had registered a case alleging that after her husband died in 2020, Pandey and his associates, with the intention to grab her land worth Rs 8 crore, gave an intoxicating injection to her son, Ajay Singh, and got a fake agreement made, showing Rs 20 lakh as the land's value, the Special Task Force (STF) that arrested Pandey said.
She also alleged that later an application was moved to get the name of a woman entered into her family register showing her as Ajay Singh’s wife and a fake marriage certificate was also submitted, it said.
On October 23, 2020, Devi’s son died in a road accident.
An FIR was filed against Pandey last year in Akbarpur Kotwali under sections 419 (cheating by impersonation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forging documents), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, it said.
The FIR also named five others who were arrested, the statement said, adding that two of them are out on bail presently.
Later, bail petitions were filed in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court by two accused on different grounds and taking cognizance of the matter, the High Court passed an order on May 19, 2023, to get the matter investigated by STF.
According to the statement, the STF team found Pandey guilty and arrested him on Friday from near Bhitaria of Ram Sanehi Ghat police station area of Barabanki district.
STF said that about 90 cases are registered against Pandey in several police stations, including Ambedkar Nagar, Prayagraj, Lucknow and Mumbai. STF lodged the arrested accused in Kotwali Akbarpur, Ambedkar Nagar and sent him to jail after completing the legal process.
In 1991, Pandey was elected as MLA from Shiv Sena from Akbarpur Assembly seat.
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