Mandubai Dawre gets her land documents from Latur district administration
Investigators found that the sale deed executed for her nearly 4.5 acres was not a genuine sale but merely a security document linked to the loan transaction. The deed was cancelled, a criminal case was registered at Chakur police station, and the land was returned to her family. In a pre-Diwali gesture, district collector Bharat Bastewad and superintendent of police Amol Tambe handed over ownership records of agricultural land to the two rightful owners on Friday after their prized possession was allegedly grabbed by illegal moneylenders through fraudulent sale deeds as loan security.
One of the beneficiaries, 75-year-old Mandubai Irappa Dawre from Kalkoti village in Chakur taluka, had watched her family’s land slip away after a small loan turned into a nightmare. “My husband had taken a loan of Rs 28,000 in the mid-90s. The private moneylender exploited our ignorance and told us the amount had grown to Rs 12 lakh with interest.
After my husband died in financial distress, the moneylender grabbed the land,” Mandubai said. “Getting land written through a sale deed by exploiting a farmer’s illiteracy or financial distress is a criminal illegal money lending transaction under the law,” Bastewad said, adding, “If any farmer has been cheated in this manner, he should lodge a complaint directly with the cooperation department without fear. Issuing a direct appeal to distressed farmers, the collector urged victims to come forward. Govt and administration are committed to giving justice to victim farmers. ”