India, Aug. 2 -- Five persons have been arrested for allegedly selling a 47-guntha plot in Navi Mumbai by impersonating its deceased owners with forged identity documents, cheating buyers of Rs.2.29 crore. The arrests came after a five-month interstate manhunt during which the prime accused allegedly changed identities, phone numbers and hideouts, police said.

The accused allegedly targeted a plot in Karanjade belonging to brothers Nathan Eliyahu Chincholkar and Shalom (Selim) Eliyahu Chincholkar, who had migrated to Israel and later died there. Their heirs now live abroad.

Police alleged that mastermind Suraj Vasudev Shinde got his father and brother-in-law to impersonate the dead brothers, using fake identity documents to execute the ...