A major stamp duty evasion scam involving crores of rupees has come to light in Ludhiana district, with the Ludhiana Commissionerate, Khanna and Ludhiana Rural police registering as many as 10 FIRs in a single day.The cheating cases were registered following inquiries conducted by Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) across the revenue district of Ludhiana into undervalued wasikas (sale deeds), which came under scrutiny during audits.The FIRs have been registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 177 (furnishing false information) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Section 82 of the Registration Act.The police action follows a petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by whistleblower Subhash Kundra Katty, president of the Judge Advocate Peedit Organisation (JAPO), Ludhiana. Katty has been pursuing the matter for several years.According to the FIRs, stamp duty evasion was detected in 978 undervalued sale deeds. Buyers and sellers, allegedly in connivance with revenue officials, are accused of perpetrating the fraud and causing substantial losses to the government exchequer through evasion of stamp duty.Providing a revenue office-wise break-up of the undervalued wasikas, Katty said Ludhiana East reported 36 cases, Ludhiana West 65, Ludhiana Central 82, Sahnewal 15, Samrala 351, Machhiwara Sahib 237, Payal 25, Sidhwan Bet 33, Raikot 31 and Jagraon 103. These undervalued sale deeds were registered between 2013 and 2016 in the district.A senior police official privy to the investigation said with 978 undervalued sale deeds having been identified, nearly 2,000 persons, including buyers, sellers and other parties concerned, had been nominated in the 10 FIRs. Most of the accused have been specifically named in the cases.Katty said earlier this year, in February and August, two separate FIRs on similar charges were registered at the Moti Nagar police station, in which 585 persons were booked.He maintained that merely registering FIRs would not serve the purpose unless the police took concrete action against those involved in the undervalued sale deeds. He also urged the Punjab Government to order a probe into sale deeds registered after 2016, alleging that stamp duty evasion running into hundreds of crores of rupees could be unearthed and revenue officials involved in the alleged malpractice exposed.