Female advocate held on land grabbing charges filed by her sibling in Ahmedabad

The female advocate was evading the court even after the summons, prompting the court to issue a warrant for her arrest.

Ahmedabad (Gujarat): A high-profile woman advocate, Geetaben Patel, was arrested on Thursday by the Satellite Police Station in Ahmedabad on charges of land grabbing with forged signatures, the police said. According to the police, the case dates back to 2021 when a complaint was lodged against the lawyer, accusing her, along with seven co-conspirators of encroaching on the land near Jodhpur village on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Despite the summons, the lawyer failed to appear in court leading to an arrest warrant.

Ketan Vyas, Police Inspector of Satellite police station Ahmedabad, said, "The case was initially filed in 2021, and the accused woman has now been arrested from her residence, following a complaint lodged by her brother over alleged land encroachment."

Geetaben Patel, a practising advocate, standing accused of orchestrating a fraudulent land transaction that reportedly amounts to over Rs 4.5 crore, was evading the court even after the summons, prompting the court to issue a warrant for her detention. The Satellite Police Station successfully arrested Patel at her residence in Ghatlodia in Ahmedabad. Now, she will be produced before the court, along with the seven other accused.

On investigation, it was revealed that both the complainant and the accused are siblings. Crucially, forensic analysis exposed the use of forged signatures in official documents, providing the grounds for the arrest of Geetaben Patel.