Land records in Bhalwal tehsil from 2012, 2015 to till date being scrutinized

VIVEK SHARMA

JAMMU: Continuing investigations into over 225 Kanals Land Scam, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday conducted roads at five Patwars in Bhalwal Tehsil in District Jammu. Huge number of documents including copies of mutations, fards and land record registers have been seized.
The land has been sold after proper demarcation of plots seizes ranging from 7 marlas to 2 kanals, collecting crores of rupees from innocent buyers. The ACB sleuths are securitizing land records from 2012 and 2015 to till date in Bhalwal tehsil.
STATE TIMES in its edition dated June 16, under caption “ACB Unearths Over 225 Kanals Land Scam; 5 FIRs Registered; Houses Of Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars, Patwaris And Property Dealers Raided” exposed Land mafia-revenue officials-police nexus.

On June 15, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had unearthed a major scam involving more than 225 kanals of land usurped by the land mafia in connivance with revenue officials, a senior police officer said.
Five FIRs were registered against the accused, including government officials, and raids were conducted at the premises of 16 people-including Tehsildars, Naib-Tehsildars, Patwaris, property dealers and their conduits involved in the scam.
The ACB teams had conducted searches in residences of revenue officials including Shakeel Ahmed Patwari, Mohd Aslam Girdawar, Madam Rafat (Niab Tehsildar), Pranab Dev Patwari, Akeel Ahmad NT, Sushil Virdi, Amit Upadaya Tehsildar, Altaf Hussain Patwari, Javed Ahmed Patwari and Amjad Malik Girdawar.
The ACB teams had also raided the houses of property dealers including Surinder Kumar, resident of Kala Kam, Kanachak, Gharo Ram, resident of Dub Sudan, Kanachak, Rohit Singh, resident of Burn, Naseem Choudhary, resident of Burn, Tarsem Lal, alias Pangu alias Pappu, resident of Rehari, Vijay Kumar alias Vijay Master, resident of Purkhoo, Rajinder Sharma, Jagdish Kumar, both residents of village Flora, near Domana, Avinash Bargotra, resident of Purkhoo. The custodian land in thousands of kanals had been grabbed by the land mafia and gangsters after tampering with the revenue records and the land was sold to various people.
Under as well 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 5,000 to Rs 50,000 by the conduits of land grabbers.
Thereafter, insertions or additions regarding additional chunks of custodian lands were made in the revenue records by the officials of the revenue and custodian department.