ACB registers 8 FIRs against Revenue officers, land grabbers, beneficiaries

STATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday unearthed one of the major land scams in Jammu and Kashmir, wherein Custodian land in Asarwan, Mishriwala and Bhalwal area of Jammu district have been found usurped by the land mafia in connivance with Form Alf Holders and the officers/officials of the Custodian/ Revenue Department.
“Inputs were received that Custodian land in thousands of Kanal situated at Asarwan, Mishriwala and Bhalwal Jammu, has been fraudulently grabbed by the land grabbers/gangsters in connivance with the Revenue and police officers/officials,” an ACB official said adding that the revenue records have been tempered and land has been sold to various persons.
On the basis of the inputs received by ACB, the official said, a verification was initiated and on the basis of the verification conducted earlier it was found that more than 600 kanals of Custodian land was shown allotted to the displaced persons through fraudulent means by the officers/officials of Revenue Dept. in connivance with the land grabbers/Form Alaf holders.
Accordingly, 16 case FIRs already stand registered by the ACB in which the investigation is in progress, the official said.
Now again, during the course of verification, the official said, it has been found that displaced persons from POJK were already allotted land in their favour but even then kith and kin of these families although not entitled as already allotted land being Form Alaf holders, in connivance with the concerned Patwaris/ Girdawars/ Naib Tehsildars/ Tehsildars of Revenue Department got mutations of additional land at Bhalwal area of District Jammu attested in their favour either without any Govt./ PRO order or on fake Govt./ PRO order.
During verification, the official said, it has also been found that no such orders of allotment of land were issued by the office of the PRO.
These persons after getting mutation of lands in their favour alienated the said land directly or through their attorney holders/ conduits to various persons by resorting to fraudulent means, thereby causing a huge loss to the Govt. Exchequer, the official said.
Owing to the establishment of, prima facie, nexus of the criminal elements/land grabbers/ Form Alaf holders and the Revenue officers/officials in alienation of about 150 kanals of Custodian land through fraudulent means, official said, ACB has now registered another eight formal case FIRs in Police Station ACB Central J&K for in-depth investigation under the provisions of J&K Prevention of Corruption Act, criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery and fraud against Suresh Sharma, son of Ved Parkash, resident of Kangrail, Jammu, the then Patwari, Patwar Halqa Barn, Tehsil Balwal, Mohit Gupta, son of Bushan Gupta, resident of H .No. 95, Suraksha Vihar, Paloura Top, Jammu, the then Tehsildar Balwal, Kuldeep Singh, son of Aya Singh, resident of House No. 83/84 Bakshi Nagar Jammu, Anjali Slathia, wife of Balvinder Singh, resident of Bhopur, Tehsil Akhnoor, District Jammu, Navjot Singh, son of Ajit Singh, resident of Ranjan, Partly Gharota Jammu, the then Patwari, Patwar Halqa Barn, Tehsil Balwal, Farooq Khan, son of Mohd Sher, resident of Mangalnar Manjakot, Rajouri, the then Tehsildar Balwal, Faryad Ahmed, the then Patwari, Patwar Halqa Kot, Tehsil Jammu, Narain Singh (now dead), the then Tehsildar Jammu, Deedar Singh, son of Inder Singh, resident of Batala Tehsil Bhimber, at present Chatha Farm Jammu, Omkar Singh, son of Paras Ram, resident of village lower Muthi, Tehsil Jammu North District Jammu, Bashir Ahmad, the then Patwari, Patwar Halqa Raipur Domana, Mohd Aslam, the then Girdawar circle Misriwala, Avtar Singh, the then Tehsildar Jammu, Sat Pal, son of Nanak Chand, resident of Gadigarh, Jammu, Shabir Ahmed, the then Patwari, Patwar Halqa Kot, Iqbal Zargar Girdawar circle Balwal, Guldarshan Singh, the then Naib Tehsildar Balwal (now dead), Kamal Kohli, son of Madan Lal, resident of Hardo Muthi Rajbagh, Kathua, Shakeel Ahmad, the then Patwari, Patwar Halqa Balwal, Aqeel Ahmad, the then Naib Tehsildar Balwal, Jaspal Singh, son of Ram Singh, resident of village Choura, District Gurdaspur, Punjab at present Rajbagh Kathua, Rashpal Singh, the then Patwari, Patwar Halqa Balwal, Hans Raj, the then Girdawar circle Balwal, Farooq Khan, the then Tehsildar Balwal, Mangat Singh, son of Atter Singh, resident of Near Janta Flour Mill Gangyal, Jammu, Kulwant Singh, son of Faqeer Singh, resident of Suhawada, Darap, Sehora Tehsil Bishnah, Jammu, and Sham Singh, the then Naib Tehsildar Balwal and others.