Hyderabad man forges documents and sells Hyderabad Palace for Rs. 300 crores

A Hyderabad resident was arrested by the Economic Offences Wing for allegedly forging documents of a property in Hyderabad and selling the plot worth Rs. 300 crore to a Kashmir-based hospitality firm – Iris Hospitality. He has been booked for cheating, forgery, breach of trust and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Also, officials said they are looking for others involved in the case viz., P Suresh Kumar, Mohammed Usman, Mukesh Gupta.

The Mumbai-based construction firm, Niharika Infrastructure, has allegedly bought a century-old heritage property, known as Kingkothi, measuring 28,106 square yards at Nazri Bagh Palace in Hyderabad from the Nazri Bagh Palace Trust three years ago.

When officials of the company visited Hyderabad in June this year, they found out from the office of the Hyderabad registrar that the palace had recently been transferred to the name of Iris Hospitality. The police also said they are examining the roles of two brothers of the Kashmir-based firm – Amit Amla and Arjun Amla in connection with this case.

According to officials, Ravindran and Suresh Kumar had signed on behalf of the company even though they were not authorized to do so. Further, the police are said to have laid their hands upon "strong" evidence in the form of emails exchanged between Kumar and Ravindran mentioning about the Hyderabad palace.

The mis-doings came to light recently when the immigration department in Hyderabad intimated the police that Ravindran had tried to board a flight to Singapore in October 10, but had been stopped by the immigration officials due to the lookout notice against him.

The palace is a heritage property which was the last residence of the last Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan before its accession to India. Nizam died in 1967 due to illness. The palace consists of the main building, now converted into a hospital, which is under the government control.