Hyderabad: The police on Tuesday arrested nine persons for allegedly grabbing the land of a retired Customs department official and his wife by creating their fake death certificates, while the couple is still alive.

The prime accused in the case, Chella Sridhar Reddy, who is into real estate business, and the eight others made the fake death certificates of the Customs superintendent and his wife, Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh M Bhagwat said. They also created another certificate in a false name, whom they claimed to be the couple's son and the plot's legal heir, with forged signatures, he said. The accused further obtained certified copies of the sale deed of the plot, measuring 200 square yard, from the sub-registrar's office at Hayath Nagar by producing the fake certificates.

Subsequently, they executed the general power of attorney, (based on the certificate made in false name whom they claimed to be the couple's son) and sold the plot for Rs 8 lakh. They then distributed the money among themselves, the commissioner said. The couple came to know about the fraud in 2015 when they went to the sub-registrar's office. After gathering more information about the fraud, they filed a complaint with the police last week.

Based on the complaint, a case was registered under IPC section 420 (cheating) and other relevant provisions. Reddy and eight others were on Tuesday arrested during the course of investigation into the case, Bhagwat said.