A decorated 92-year-old retired Indian Army officer is currently facing the toughest battle of his life. Captain Chunnilal Thakur, a resident of Himachal Pradesh who bravely served the nation in the 1962 war against China as well as the 1965 and 1971 wars against Pakistan, has fallen victim to a major Jaisalmer land fraud racket. An organized land mafia network allegedly used forged identity documents and a sub-registrar impersonator to unlawfully mortgage and sell the veteran’s 25-bigha agricultural plot located in Mohangarh, Rajasthan, for an estimated ₹25 lakh without his consent.
The Origin of the Disputed Property
The agricultural land in question was originally granted to Captain Chunnilal under the state government’s rehabilitation program for families displaced by the Pong Dam infrastructure project in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. Over several decades, the veteran and his family put significant labor into turning what was once a barren desert patch within the Indira Gandhi Canal command area into highly productive, irrigated green farmland. The crime finally came to light when the local cultivator handling the fields noticed unauthorized real estate brokers surveying the plot and immediately alerted the family.
Official Departmental Stance:
“An ex-army man approached us stating that his Murba (land deed) was fraudulently registered via an impersonator. A formal case has been registered at the Jaisalmer City Kotwali Police Station. We have initiated a high-level inquiry, and strict legal action will be taken against every individual found responsible based on the revenue record verification.”
— Revantdan, Additional Superintendent of Police, Jaisalmer
Administrative Audit Findings
A look into the administrative timeline reveals how quickly the fraudulent property transaction was pushed through the sub-registrar and revenue networks:
The Investigation & Jurisdictional Hurdles
The aging veteran faced severe bureaucratic delays when attempting to report the crime. Because the legitimate owners reside out-of-state, local property brokers intentionally exploit their absence by forging land documents. The family was pushed across multiple police jurisdictions before a formal First Information Report (FIR) could be successfully registered.
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Step-by-Step Bureaucratic Ordeal Faced by the Family
1.Initial Discovery:Mohangarh Field Check.
The local cultivator notifies the family in Himachal Pradesh that the 25-bigha plot has been sold to an outside party without their knowledge.
2.Jurisdictional Runaround:Three Police Stations.
The family travels to Jaisalmer and approaches the Mohangarh Police Station, only to be redirected to the PTM Police Station, which then redirects them to the City Kotwali Police Station.
3.Revenue Department Refusal:Tehsil Administration Office.
The family requests the local Tehsildar to pause the land mutation, but the officer states his department only handles registration and directs the exhausted 92-year-old to civil courts.
4.Senior Intervention:Superintendent of Police Command.
Following a direct appeal to Jaisalmer Superintendent of Police Abhishek Shivhare highlighting the veteran’s deteriorating health, an FIR is finally ordered and filed at Kotwali Police Station under forgery and cheating provisions.
Veteran welfare organizations have noted that this Jaisalmer land fraud is part of an organized pattern targeting vulnerable, elderly ex-servicemen living far away from their allotted properties. Biometric and document trails from the sub-registrar’s office are currently undergoing rigorous forensic analysis to track down the network of brokers involved.