The Ambala police have registered an FIR against 15 people under charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and forgery for allegedly fabricating the power of attorney and the sale deeds to grab four plots on nearly 2,529 sq yds of land in the property of Church of North India (CNI) Compound in Ambala City.The said property is situated on the premises of Philadelphia Hospital, which was established in 1883 on 33 acres in Ambala city. The hospital is owned, possessed and managed by the Church of North India Trust Association (CNITA). (File)The said property is situated on the premises of Philadelphia Hospital, which was established in 1883 on 33 acres in Ambala city. The hospital is owned, possessed and managed by the Church of North India Trust Association (CNITA).The FIR was registered under sections 316(2), 318(4), 336(3), 338, 340 and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Ambala city police station on Saturday on the complaint of Dr Sunil Kumar Sadiq, director of the hospital.It was lodged against Joseph William, a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh in Fatehgarh Sahib, Punjab; Sunita Rani, vice-moderator, United Church of Northern Indian (Punjab Synod), Zira; Ajay Kumar from Gurdaspur; Balraj Singh Antil, Preeti Sharma and Poonam, all from Sonepat; Navneet Aggarwal, Jai Parkash Malhotra and Digvijay, all from Yamunanaagar, Ankit Kumar of Karnal; Rishi Gaur, Sukhvinder Singh and Ram Kumar from Ambala district; Sahil Kumar and Ramesh Kumar, both from Panchkula.Dr Sadiq said the trust has appointed him and Adino Abraham as its attorney vide power of attorney on May 18, 2026.The caseIn his complaint, Dr Sadiq alleged that Joseph William had got some society registered under the assumed name of United Church Northern India, Punjab Synod at Zira and, thereafter, forged and fabricated a general power of attorney and got the same registered with sub-registrar, Ram Shahar, Solan district.It was alleged that William in conspiracy with all other accused forged, fabricated and executed four sale deeds: First on April 22, 2026, for ₹70 lakh in favour of Preeti Sharma, Poonam, Rishi Gaur of the land measuring 338.330 sq yards.The FIR reads that the second sale deed was executed the same day for ₹65 lakh by him in favour of Balraj Singh Antil of the land measuring 253.61 sq yards, the third on May 5, 2026, for ₹25 lakh in favour of Navneet Aggarwal, Ankit and Digvijay for the land measuring 1,000 sq yds and another for ₹25 lakh in favour of Jai Parkash Malhotra of the land measuring 1,000 sq yds.“That in all the four sale deeds the title has been claimed on the basis of deed dated March 19, 1971, despite the fact that the same was set aside by the court in Civil Suit No.713 of 1993 against United Church of Northern India Trust Association, Bombay, and was declared illegal, null and void and the said suit was decreed by the court of RK Bishnoi, the then sub-judge, First Class, Ambala City, vide decree and judgment dated November 26, 1993,” the FIR said.The complainant said the deed was in favour of the United Church of Northern India Trust Association, Bombay, which is a registered company and was not in favour of United Church of Northern India, Zira.“That there are no plot numbers as described in the four sale deeds and there are no separate property IDs. Separate property ID numbers allotted and it appears that certain officials/officers of the municipal corporation, Ambala City, who happens to be the maker/checker on the NDC portal connived with William and allotted fictitious property ID numbers by forging and fabricating the municipal record,” Dr Sadiq alleged.He said had the sale deeds been genuine, the same were required to be presented before the sub-registrar, Ambala, but the same were presented before the district revenue officer, who along with clerk connived with the accused and registered the sale deeds in a clandestine manner without even checking the revenue record.Dr Sadiq said a church of CNITA is situated in a portion of the property and all the residents living on this property are minority Christian community and regularly offer prayers in the church and their religious sentiments have been hurt by the wrongful acts of the accused persons as the entire property is known as church property.In his complaint, Dr Sadiq has also named the DRO and his clerk, but the FIR doesn’t mention about them.Superintendent of police Ajit Singh Shekhawat said that the complaint also mentions about some unnamed MC officials and employees.“All officers/employees, if found involved, will be booked and other charges will be added, during the course of investigation,” he added.‘Land mafia operating in Haryana’Paul Swarup, bishop of the Dioceses of Delhi of the CNI, told HT that this is now becoming a pattern that fraud groups get themselves registered to forge papers and grab church properties.“There is a large land mafia working in Haryana that is eying Christian property. There could be some heavyweights behind them as well, so it is a bigger challenge for us to even get an FIR registered. Another major challenge before us is to claim back the property. The only option is the court,” he said.Similar case in 2005Earlier in 2005, a similar land grab case came to light, after which an FIR was registered and prime accused Bansi Lal and others were imprisoned for three years.