Bhubaneswar: A 75-year-old woman, Indira Pattanaik, stands to gain Rs 90 lakh as compensation for being cheated in a land deal 12 years back. Apart from being asked to pay compensation, the culprit, Saroj Kumar Tarasia was also handed simple imprisonment of 18 months. He will have to undergo imprisonment for another five months if he fails to pay within the stipulated time, the court of the sub-divisional magistrate (SDJM) ruled.
In November 2011, Tarasia approached Indira, proprietor of Chakadola Enterprises to sell her two plots. He had the lease deed, allotment and authorisation letters of Idco plots 66 and 77/1 at Khurda’s Industrial Estate. The plots were registered in the name of Naresh Singhal who belonged to Faridabad, Haryana.
According to reports, Tarasia told Indira that Singhal had authorised him to sell the two plots and convinced her to purchase them within three months. He also agreed to execute the deal for Rs 77.40 lakh including his brokerage charges. Indira paid up but when Tarasia delayed executing the deal. Upon contacting Singhal, proprietor of M/s Krishna Steel Corporation in Faridabad and owner of the two plots, she came to know that he had not authorised anyone to sell his plots. She also discovered that Tarasia had forged the documents and faked the signatures of Singhal. Tarasia finally returned Rs 30 lakh to Indira but didn’t pay the rest of the money. In February 2014, Indira sent Tarasia a legal notice and later, approached the court.
“Tarasia harassed Pattanaik for about 10 years for which the SDJM court awarded him imprisonment and ordered to pay compensation too. This is for the first time in recent years that a court-ordered a convict to pay such a huge amount of compensation,” said her advocate Chittaranjan Dash.
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