Surat: The Economic Offences Prevention Cell of Surat Police has arrested Kanaiya Contractor (82), president of the Surat District Cricket Association (SDCA) and a prominent city figure, for allegedly forging documents to obtain a loan of ₹2.92 crore.

As per police, Kanaiya, the elder son of late Lalbhai Contractor, created bogus power of attorney papers by forging the signatures of his brother Hemant Contractor and sister-in-law Naynaben. Using these forged documents, he allegedly secured the loan from Bajaj Finance.

Investigators said the fraudulent power of attorney was prepared when Hemant and Naynaben were outside India. The fraud surfaced when the company issued a notice to them, revealing that ₹67 lakh of the loan remained unpaid. Following this, Hemant’s family filed a cheating and forgery complaint against Kanaiya in October last year.

Kanaiya’s anticipatory bail pleas were rejected by both the Surat Sessions Court and the Gujarat High Court. The Supreme Court later granted him six weeks’ interim protection on the conditions that he repay the loan and return the forged documents. Although he cleared the loan, he did not hand over the documents, leading to the cancellation of his protection and his eventual arrest.

The Contractor family is well known in Surat for donating land for the Lalbhai Contractor Cricket Stadium. Hemant, who died in June last year while serving as SDCA president, had long been associated with the association. Hemant’s family, while filing the complaint, had also alleged that mistreatment by Kanaiya deteriorated Hemant’s health and contributed to his death. DeshGujarat