2 senior revenue officials among 5 chargesheeted in land fraud case
Had fraudulently manipulated official records and illegally cancelled the valid mutations
The Economic Offences Wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Crime Branch has filed a chargesheet against five persons, including two senior revenue officials, in a land fraud case, an official said on Sunday.
“The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) filed the chargesheet under various Sections of RPC and Prevention of Corruption Act before the court of special judge (anti-corruption), Srinagar, against five accused persons, including four revenue officials,” a Crime Branch spokesman said.
The accused include then-tehsildars Nusrat Aziz, Shahbaz Bodha, two patwaris and a person named Riyaz Ahmad Bhat. Bodha is currently posted as the assistant commissioner (revenue) in Pulwama district.
The spokesman said the case stemmed from a complaint alleging that the complainants purchased two plots of land measuring 6,300 sq ft each, along with an additional 3,950 sq ft of land at Balhama in Srinagar.
The land purchase was made through registered sale deeds executed by the accused Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, and the possession of the land was duly handed over and mutations lawfully attested in favour of the complainants, the spokesman said.
“During investigation, it was revealed that the accused seller, in a criminal conspiracy with the revenue officials, fraudulently manipulated official records and illegally cancelled the valid mutations, thereby dishonestly restoring ownership rights in favour of the seller.
“This enabled the resale of the same land to other parties, causing wrongful loss to the complainants and corresponding unlawful gain to the accused,” the spokesman said.
It was also established that the basic mutations were attested in favour of land broker Riyaz Ahmad Bhat on predated documents, at a time when the concerned officials were not even posted within the jurisdiction of the said tehsil.
