ACB unearths land scam of hundreds of kanals in Jammu

Jammu, June 14: Jammu and Kashmir Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has stated to have unearthed one of the major land scams in the Union Territory and has registered five FIRs against revenue officers, land grabbers and their conduits for usurping 225 kanals of custodian land in Asarwan, Mishriwala and Bhalwal area of Jammu district.

DIG ACB Vikas Gupta, while sharing this information in a press conference here, stated that in this connection, raids on premises of 16 people, identified and against whom FIRs were registered, were underway.

“Inputs were received that custodian land of thousands of kanals situated at Asarwan, Mishriwala and Bhalwal Jammu, in the area where Ring Road is being constructed, has been fraudulently grabbed by the land grabbers, gangsters in connivance with the revenue and police officers and officials. The revenue records have been tempered and land has been sold to various persons,” DIG Gupta said, adding, “FIRs were registered yesterday. Searches, in the premises of those against whom FIRs were registered, are being conducted today. However, no arrests have been made so far. Further investigation is also going on.”

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), ACB Central Surinder Kumar Sharma, who is investigating in the case, stated that among those named in the FIRs included ten retired and serving revenue officials.

He identified them as Shakil Ahmed patwari, Mohd Aslam girdawar, Rifat ex naib tehsildar, Pranav Dev patwari, Aqeel Ahmed Naib tehsildar, Sushil Virdi, Amit Upadhyay tehsildar, Altaf Hussain patwari, Javed Ahmed patwari and Amjad Malik girdawar.

He stated that ACB conducted a formal verification wherein it was found that in furtherance of the criminal conspiracy, Form 3-A (Form Alf) along with Power of Attorneys (POAs) were obtained from various PoK refugees, alluring them of additional lands and providing them instant money ranging from Rs 5000 to 50,000 by the conduits of land grabbers. Thereafter insertions, additions regarding additional chunks of custodian lands were made in the revenue records by the officials and officers of the Revenue and Custodian department, by sheer abuse of their official positions.

“These lands were sold by the conduits and attorney holders to various persons including their own gang leaders and members, by resorting to fraudulent means, thereby causing a huge loss to the government,” SSP Sharma said.

“Owing to the establishment of, prima facie, nexus of the criminal elements and land grabbers and the revenue, custodian officers and officials in alienation of custodian land through fraudulent means, ACB has registered 5 formal case FIRs in Police Station Central J&K for investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and fraud,” he informed.

DIG Gupta stated that during the course of investigation, after obtaining the search warrants from the Special Judge Anti-Corruption Jammu, search teams comprising ACB officers, independent witnesses, magistrates were dispatched to around sixteen locations throughout Jammu and its adjoining areas, which were still going on.

In addition to 5 FIRs registered, verification was 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.