ACB retrieves 40 Kanals of custodian land grabbed fraudulently in Jammu

Srinagar, Nov 8: The Jammu and Kashmir's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Friday said, it has busted the nexus of revenue officers and land mafia by retrieving around 40 kanals of custodian land in Asarwan area of Jammu.

The ACB has earlier unearthed land scam involving more than 500 kanals of Custodian land, in respect of which 15 FIR have already been registered for investigation, said an official handout from the ACB.

The ACB said, it received inputs of custodian land in thousands of kanals situated at Asarwan, Mishriwala, and Bhalwa, Jammu was fraudulently grabbed by the mafia while the records were tempered too, and the land was sold to various persons.

The ACB found these mafias allured POK refugees and handed them FORM 3-A (Form Alf) along with power of attorneys (POAs) as they promised these refugees of additional lands and instant money by the conduits of land grabbers.

After this, the ACB said, additions regarding additional chunks of custodian lands were made in the revenue records by officials of the Revenue and Custodian department. This, ACB said, is a sheer abuse of the official power of the involved officers.

These lands, ACB said were sold to various persons including gang leaders and members through fraudulent means, hence, causing a great loss to government exchequer.

Using the prima facie nexus of the criminal persons, and officials, ACB said it registered formal case FIR No. 20/2024 in police station Central J&K for investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery, and fraud punishable u/s 7, 13 (1) (a) and 13(2) of PC Act, 1988 (amended in 2018) and sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC against 1. Pranav Dev Singh, Patwari, 2. Rahaul Kai, Patwari, 3. Aqeel Ahmed, Naib Tehsildar 4. Rajinder Sharma S/o Jagdish Chander R/o Flora Nagbani Marh Jammu, 5. Varinder Gupta S/o Banarsi Dass Gupta R/o H.No. F-41, Lane No. 6, Near Police Post, Talab Tillo Jammu, 6. Jagdish Chander S/O Dev Raj R/o Flora Nagbani Marh Jammu, 7. Maqbool Choudhary S/o Haji Hameed, officers/officials of Revenue, Custodian department and others.

During the course of investigation, after obtaining the search warrant from the Ld. Special Judge Anti-Corruption Jammu, search teams comprising ACB officers, independent witnesses, Magistrates were dispatched to around six locations throughout Jammu and its adjoining areas.

As of now around 16 FIRs have been registered for investigation even as the verification is still in progress to unearth the remaining usurped custodian land by land mafia in connivance with officers and officials of Revenue, Police and Custodian department, read the official statement.