Over two decades ago, 13 persons allegedly duped the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and the Registrar, Cooperative Societies (RCS) to get land at subsidised rates for a cooperative society that had been declared defunct.Their modus operandi? Forgery and manipulation of society records and addition of fake members — such as their family and relatives — to dupe authorities.On October 31, 25 years after the case was registered, a Special Judge in Rouse Avenue Court sentenced members of the Safdarjung CGHS Limited to five years of imprisonment for offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, and sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act among others.“In civilised society, corruption is a cancer-like disease which, if not detected in time, is sure to malign the polity of the country leading to disastrous consequences. It is termed as plague which is not only contagious but if not controlled, spreads like a fire in a jungle,” said Special Judge Prashant Sharma of Rouse Avenue Court in his order dated October 31.“Corruption is opposed to democracy… Unless nipped in the bud at the earliest, it is likely to cause turbulence, shaking the socio-economic-political system in an otherwise healthy, wealthy, effective and vibrant society,” he added.While 11 of the accused were sentenced to five years of imprisonment, two were sentenced to one and two years respectively. Nine of the accused were members of the society and three were RCS officials.How it beganIn the 1970s and 80s, various cooperative societies were registered in Delhi but no land was allotted by the DDA. As a result, these societies became defunct.Story continues below this adThe Delhi Cooperative Societies Rules have provisions for the revival of defunct societies. These provisions were allegedly exploited by various builders, in conspiracy with officials of the NCT of Delhi, for undue financial gains, causing financial loss to the government.In an order dated August 2, 2005, the Delhi High Court had directed the formation of a Special Investigation Team to inspect 135 such societies.The current caseThe current case is one of the cases in the alleged Rs 4,000-crore CGHS scam in Delhi, which involved fraudulent revival of defunct societies for illegally obtaining subsidised land from the DDA. The society in this case was revived and land measuring 5,000 square metres in Dheerpur, Delhi, was allotted.According to various court documents seen by The Indian Express, the accused persons had made their family members as members of Safdarjung CGHS Limited.Story continues below this adRecords of the society were also allegedly forged and manipulated to revive the society to gain subsidised land.According to the October 13 conviction judgement, there were blank spaces in the records of the society, elections were not regularly conducted and the society was not regularly audited. “None of the accused persons gave any explanation whatsoever regarding blank spaces and manipulations in the records of society, during trial,” said Special Judge Sharma in his conviction judgment.Many of the 53 prosecution witnesses examined by the CBI deposed in court that they weren’t allotted flats and the money they had deposited to become members was never refunded to them. Many witnesses had also denied before the court that they gave their signatures on society records.“… every member of society in question, by hook or by crook, wanted residential accommodation in Delhi at a very small cost. That greed sealed the lips of members of the society. So each and every member of the society, who was made accused in this case, acted in a manner, as if no illegality was done while managing the affairs of the society and as if all the rules/bylaws were followed,” said Judge Sharma in the conviction order.Story continues below this adCourt documents further reveal that there were multiple contradictions in the society’s documents such as discrepancies regarding the dates of enrollments of members.The court order also noted that the officials “simply believed the records of society true and correct without observing the obvious manipulations, forgeries and tampering in the said records” as “they wanted to help co-accused persons for getting society in question revived, illegally, with ulterior motives”.The Judge said “officials did not see forgeries and manipulations in the records of society, which one can see from the naked eye”.RCS officials had allegedly prepared a favourable report for the purpose of revival of the society due to which a “list of 90 fictitious members was approved and sent to the DDA” and land was allotted in their favour after the society was “revived”.Story continues below this ad“Having residential accommodation in metropolitan cities like Delhi is everyone’s dream… There is no issue with that. Problem arises when for making that dream a reality, one takes recourse to illegal means. In the process, lies are churned out, ethics are compromised, documents are falsified /forged, professional duties are ignored and everyone involved in the conspiracy with the aim of getting residential accommodation, pays no hoot to the morality and moral principles,” the judge said in his October 13 judgment.