The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jammu and Kashmir unearthed one of the major land scams on the outskirts of Jammu city by exposing menacing land grabbers, revenue officers, and cops nexus.
After uncovering the land scam, the ACB registered five FIRs, in this case, involving two Tehsildars, as well as several police officers and beneficiaries, among whom are notorious land grabbers and a former personal assistant to an ex-minister.
The ACB conducted simultaneous raids across 20 locations in Jammu, seizing relevant revenue documents and unaccounted cash. The scam involves the fraudulent acquisition of Custodian land, with revenue and police officials allegedly tampering with land records and subsequently selling the land.
Custodian land grabbed by land mafia with connivance of cops, revenue officers
According to the spokesperson of the ACB, 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 and 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.
ACB conducted a formal verification wherein it was found that in furtherance of the criminal conspiracy, FORM 3-A (Form Alf) along with the Power Of Attorneys (POAs) were obtained from various refugees of Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), alluring them of additional lands and providing them instant money ranging from 5000/- to 50,000/- by the conduits of land grabbers, and thereafter insertions/additions regarding additional chunks of custodian lands were made in the revenue records by the officials/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 gang leaders and members, by resorting to fraudulent means, thereby causing a huge loss to the government.
Owing to the establishment of, prima facie, nexus of the criminal elements, land grabbers, and the Revenue and Custodian officials in the alienation of Custodian land through fraudulent means, ACB has registered five 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.
During the course of the investigation, after obtaining the search warrants from the Special Judge Anti-Corruption Jammu, search teams comprising ACB officers, Independent Witnesses, and Magistrates were dispatched to around sixteen locations throughout Jammu and its adjoining areas, which are still going on.
In addition to five FIRs registered, verification is still in progress to unearth the remaining usurped custodian land by the land mafia in connivance with officers and officials of the Revenue, Police, and Custodian departments.
Who is the owner of the Custodian land?
In the aftermath of partition and followed by the tribal invasion in 1947, numerous individuals from Jammu relocated to Pakistan or Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), leaving their immovable assets such as homes, stores, warehouses, and land.
To prevent these vacant properties from falling into the hands of land mafias, the State Government took control of them. Consequently, the Custodian Department was established to manage these assets, catalog them, and oversee them according to prevailing norms.
These properties are extensive. Residential buildings have been leased out for extended periods, and the same applies to land parcels. However, over time, land mafias have encroached upon these lands. The government has found it challenging to maintain and renovate these properties adequately. As a result, a committee of specialists has been formed by the overseeing Minister to propose strategies for commercially exploiting these idle evacuee properties to boost the Custodian Department's revenue and safeguard against encroachments.
