According to an official spokesman, Deputy Mamlatdar (circle officer, Ratanpur and adjoining areas) Anil Patel had allegedly tried to convert taxable status of eight plots into ones of non-taxable ones by forging documents. The spokesman said that the eight plots in Ratanpur village in Vadodara taluka of the district could not be transferred without charging tax because of its Chakaraya type (impartible) status. However, the official ensured that the same were sold to one Manibhai Patel, who had power of attorney to strike the deal on the behalf of one industrialist Narendra Desai in early 1980s after converting them into non-taxable type of plots.

``The matter, however, came to the notice of the collectorate, in 1988, who stopped the deal. Yet, Patel misinterpreted the official order and sold the land without charging any taxes in August 1998'', the spokesman said.