Man gets 3-yr RI for ‘selling’ Airport Authority of India land

Ashok Kumar Singh thought he had come with an ingenious plan to make a quick buck.

The assistant aerodrome manager with the Airport Authorities of India (AAI) tried to sell a plot in Dahisar to 10 businessmen. The only catch — the plot belonged to the AAI.

A special CBI court on Friday sentenced the former AAI employee to three years’ rigorous imprisonment for allegedly duping the small-time businessmen in 1997.
Singh sold the AAI plot at Dahisar for over Rs10 lakh. About three years ago, he was convicted for a similar offence pertaining to a plot in Kurla.

As per the prosecution’s case, Singh had approached the 10 businessmen with the help of a local estate agent. He then showed them the plot admeasuring nearly 20,000 sq feet. Singh didn’t pay the agent his 4% commission, the estate agent deposed.

Singh sold the 2,000 sq feet of land to each of the victims for Rs200 per sq feet. As per their depositions, Singh asked the businessmen to pay about Rs10 lakh by cash. The remaining amount was paid by cheques in the name of AAI. However, these cheques were never encashed and were found in Singh’s house after his arrest.

Singh sent the businessmen letters on the official AAI letterheads and also used official stamps.  But when the buyers approached AAI did they realise that Singh was neither an estate manager nor was he authorised to transfer the conveyance of the land.

Interestingly, the evidence shows that Singh even tried to ‘settle’ the issue by giving his victims Rs5 lakh cheques before they approached the CBI. The cheques bounced.