Meet 'Charles Sobhraj of Kashmir': Ex-doctor who 'duped' people by selling land owned by Pandit migrants

The Jammu and Kashmir Police has arrested an 80-year-old former Ayurvedic doctor from the outskirts of Srinagar for allegedly cheating land buyers, mostly migrant Kashmiri Pandits.

The accused allegedly used multiple identities and forged documents to commit the fraud. After a nine-month manhunt, he was arrested and earned the nickname “Charles Sobhraj of Kashmir” for his apparent ability to evade him. investigators.

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The accused, identified as Somnath Koul, allegedly went by the names of Mohan Lal Dhar, Brijnath Bhat and Hadinath Dhar.

Police say Koul has been fooling people by promising to sell them land left behind by Kashmiri Pandit migrants like him for over a decade.

Koul, now in his 80s, would in some cases pose as a lawyer facilitating the sale of the property, in others as the owner himself. According to a report in The Indian Express, he would also play the victim, claiming to be among the thousands of Kashmiri Pandits who were forced to leave their homes after the rise of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s.

The Modus Operandi was simple. Koul would identify the land left behind by the Pandits, strike a deal with potential buyers with forged documents, collect the money and disappear, the report said, citing police officials.

Koul first came to the attention of the police in January when they noticed his photo pasted on one of the fake sales documents. A manhunt was soon launched, which continued for nine months and eventually uncovered a trail of fraudulent land deals dating back to 2017.

How did the police catch him?

In November 2025, a resident of South Kashmir approached the Economic Offenses Wing (EOW) Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police. The resident said that after payment, he bought about half an acre of land in Pulwama and 300 poplar trees planted in a plot in Bijbehara. ₹93 million. The complainant stated that when he went to court to ratify the “Deed of Sale”, he was told that the land did not belong to the person named in the deed as the seller.

FIR against Koul in April this year. The disputed land belonged to aa migrants a Kashmiri Pandit and Koul impersonated the owner as a lawyer, an Indian Express report said. Two addresses in Jammu and Bengaluru mentioned by Koul in the documents also turned out to be fake.

Police also tracked down Ghulam Mohidin Dar, a resident of Budgam in central Kashmir, who signed the document as a witness. The gift was finally caught in September. It turned out that Dar was an influential land broker who was luring buyers for Koul. Soon the police learned of Koula’s multiple identities.

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Koul is said to be an Ayurvedic doctor and his name in his service records is Brijnath Bhat. He holds two voter cards and two Aadhaar cards. The two Aadhaar cards identify him as Somnatha Koula and Mohana Lal Dhara.

“Charles Sobhraj of Kashmir”

During the investigation, the police discovered that he had even destroyed his fingertips, including his own iris scan also failed.

Jammu and Kashmir police compared him to him Charles Sobhraj for his ability to evade investigative agencies,

Sobhraj is a French serial killer, conman and thief who gained notoriety for murdering and robbing foreign tourists in South and Southeast Asia during the 1970s. Arrested in New Delhi in 1976 after poisoning French tourists, he was imprisoned in Tihar Jail.

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In 1986, he escaped by drugging prison guards and inmates, but was recaptured soon after. In December 2022, he was released from prison in Nepal and deported back to France.

During the investigation, the police found four more cases connected to Koul. Last in 2017 and registered with the EOW of the Crime Department. Three more cases were registered with EOW and Special Crime Wing from 2021 to 2026.

In the first case in 2017, the police received a complaint against him as Brijnath Bhat. Koul allegedly posed as a lawyer for a plot in Goshabugh in Pattan, Baramulla. An agreement was made for ₹55 million. After the complainant paid ₹9.17 million inches depositThe ball disappeared.

In 2021, Koul re-identified as Brijnath Bhat. After the alleged takeover ₹47 lakhs from the buyer has gone missing. Koul is now in Srinagar Central Jail serving judicial custody.