Police nabbed a man who sold non-existing forest land in Koderma to Tata Steel using forged documents on Tuesday.

Police were looking for Neeraj Kumar for the last six years. In a fraudulent deal, Kumar managed to sell Tata Steel a piece of land which he claimed was in the Domchanch area of Koderma district for Rs 4.78 crores. The steel giant was supposed to use the land for a forestation drive.

Kumar was arrested from Adityapur, from where he had been running a real estate company. He was then brought to Koderma. Confirming the arrest, DSP Sanjeev Kumar said, “Neeraj was one of the masterminds in this fake deal.”

According to police officials, the accused had transferred Rs 1.6 crore of the total money he duped to his bank account.

The 427-acres of land transferred to Tata Steel didn’t exist but Kumar managed to show it as forest land in official records in connivance with government officials posted in Koderma.

Koderma deputy commissioner Pravin Shankar had initiated a probe into the fraudulent deal, which resulted in the arrest of registrar Manoj Kumar Rukhaiyar, head clerk of the registry office, along with 24 others. Many of the accused are now out on bail.

According to police, the fraudsters had manipulated details of the forest land by allotting plot numbers that didn’t exist in official records. Interestingly, the land records had been so cleverly manipulated that officials of Tata Steel failed to smell any foul play.

Police revealed that the fraudster had used fake PAN and Aadhaar card details of sellers and identifiers. This made it difficult for the police to trace the accused. According to the land deal, a total of 11 sellers had transferred plots numbered 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 19 to the chief administrator of Tata Steel.

Interestingly, in government records, plots numbered 1 to 10 only exist. The circle officer back then had allegedly issued the land possession certificate of the imaginary land, to which the divisional forest officer issued a no-objection certificate.

Police are in search of another mastermind who is said to have made Rs 100,000 in the same land deal. According to officials, after Ehtesham Waquarib joined as Koderma superintendent of police, a team led by DSP Kumar was formed to investigate the case. According to them, Giridih and Jamshedpur police also played a role in the arrest.

Meanwhile, the investigating officer of the case, L. B. Prasad, has moved the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Koderma and has requested a five-day remand of Kumar.