Tenant held for cheating author

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, AUG. 23. The tenant of distinguished Hindi and Marathi author Vishnu Prabhakar has been arrested by the Anti-Forgery Section of the Economic Offences Wing of the Delhi police Crime Branch on charges of cheating and criminal breach of trust for drawing the octogenarian litterateur into a prolonged court battle with the help of forged documents.

According to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Dinesh Bhatt, the accused, Deepak Sabharwal, had taken the B-151, M.P. Enclave, Pitampura house of Mr Prabhakar on a monthly rent of Rs 3,000 in 1990.

After paying rent for a few months, Deepak Sabharwal stopped paying of the rental charges for the house. Subsequently, he dragged Mr Prabhakar to court on the grounds that he was trying to evict him forcibly from the premises.

Further, Mr.Bhatt said, Mr Prabhakar, to his utter surprise and shock, discovered that the accused had fabricated the property papers and shown the house as his own. The papers were filed by Sabharwal in the court of the Additional Rent Controller, Mr J.S. Malik.

Despite his 89 years and meagre resources, Mr Prabhakar kept fighting the case in court.

However, it was subsequently revealed that many of the documents -- such as the General Power of Attorney, Special Power of Attorney, Agreement to Sell, Will and Receipts of Payments -- shown as signed by Mr Prabhakar and sold to one Ompal Singh were prepared fraudulently. Thereafter, from Ompal Singh, these documents were shown as transferred in the name of Deepak Sabharwal.

Interestingly, the DCP said, the witnesses and lawyers whose signatures had been obtained on these document deposed, during investigation, that they had never seen the original landlord, Mr Vishnu Prabhakar, while putting their signatures.

It was also revealed that some proxy attendance was made in the name of Mr Prabhakar while the deed was being registered in the office of the Sub-Registrar.

The police officer said Mr Prabhakar waged a long legal battle to regain his house from Deepak Sabharwal and his associates who resorted to various tactics to usurp his property.

The issue was also raised in parliament and a number of prominent intellectuals and citizens expressed concern.

Finally, on August 9 this year, the High Court passed an order disposing off the writ petition of the accused, Deepak Sabharwal, by saying that the respondent, Mr Vishnu Prabhakar, was at liberty to execute the order of eviction and, if necessary, may take the help of the police.

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