LUCKNOW, Dec. 12 -- The Uttar Pradesh Economic Offences Wing (EOW) has arrested a man involved in large-scale land deed forgery and land-grabbing in Gonda district, EOW officials confirmed while sharing a press note in this regard on Thursday. The action was taken under "Operation Shikanja", a statewide campaign launched to crack down on fugitives and prevent economic crimes. The EOW officials confirmed that the arrested accused has been identified as Ram Kailash Pandey, resident of Chitauni village under Kaudiya police station, Gonda district. They said Pandey was arrested at around 8:15 PM in Gonda on Wednesday. According to the EOW officials, land mafia groups and their associates in Gonda fraudulently prepared fake sale deeds of government and private land. The gang allegedly colluded with officials and employees of the Sadar Gonda Sub-Registrar Office. They tampered with original archival records and replaced genuine deeds with forged documents, enabling them to execute illegal bainamas (sale deeds) and subsequently grab the land. They said the fraud came to light during an internal probe conducted by the sub-registrar of Sadar Gonda, which found several forged deeds in official records. Following the discovery, multiple FIRs were registered at Kotwali Nagar police station in Gonda. Later, on the orders of the state government, 50 related cases were transferred to the SIT police station in Lucknow for investigation. The arrested accused is named in an FIR lodged under different IPC sections of fraud, forgery and criminal conspiracy as well as Section 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, registered at the SIT police station in Lucknow in 2023. ds and forged land deeds....