New Delhi: More than 26 years after two men tried to sell land belonging to Bombay Port Trust for Rs 2.27 crore by forging letters of a Joint Secretary of Ministry of Shipping and Transport, a Delhi court has ordered framing of charges against them.

Special CBI Judge Vinod Goel directed framing of charges against accused L K Kaul and Vineet Tiwari, both Delhi residents, for cheating, forgery, conspiracy and using forged documents as genuine under various provisions of the IPC.

"It is prima facie evident that Kaul and Tiwari entered into criminal conspiracy with accused approver A S Master, belonging to Thane in Maharashtra, to prepare false documents by forging the signature of Yashwant Sinha (now a senior BJP leader and the then joint secretary of Ministry of Shipping and Transport) on the letter of allotment of Bombay Port Trust land at Colaba," the court said.

"The land deal was allegedly made in favour of M/s North Star Corporation, a concern of Master to induce Praveen Shah and other unidentified persons to cause wrongful gains to themselves and corresponding losses to Shah and others," it added.

According to CBI counsel Naveen Kumar Matta, Kaul forged letters with signatures of Sinha in 1982 and obtained Rs 2.27 crore which was divided between Kaul and Tiwari.

CBI had registered a case against Kaul, Tiwari and Master on March 22,1983 following a complaint by P V Venkatakrishnan Joint Secretary, Shipping and Transport Ministry.

It was alleged that the accused were trying to sell a plot measuring 39,846 square metre of Bombay Port Trust in the name of North Star Corporation which was purportedly given on lease by the ministry for construction of a five-star hotel.
Source : PTI