Jammu: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday registered a formal case against three former revenue officials for allegedly facilitating the illegal transfer of state land to private individuals in Nagrota area on the outskirts of Jammu city by misusing their official positions, officials said.
The accused include Riaz Ahmed — the then Patwari Nagrota — Rajesh Kumar Thakur and Nissar Ahmed Shad, both former Tehsildars of Nagrota, along with several beneficiaries and others, they said.
The officials said the case has been registered under various sections of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act and the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), including criminal conspiracy, cheating and forgery.
According to the ACB, an inheritance mutation dated July 25, 2017, for four kanals of land in Panjgrain village was fraudulently transferred to Sudarshan Singh and Raghbir Singh, the sons of late Krishan Singh and Bidhya Devi.
This was done despite an earlier mutation dated November 6, 2008, being invalid due to the absence of the Patwari’s signatures and violations of the government orders.
The officials said that the land was originally recorded as state land as per the 1969-70 records and had no legal entries for the beneficiaries since 1957-58 — one of the key conditions required under the aforementioned government orders.
The investigation also revealed that a mutation dated November 5, 2009, was inserted by then Patwari Riaz Ahmed without a page number, allotment order or his own signature.
In another case, a mutation dated January 29, 2016, involving custodian land allotted to one Bidyawanti was unlawfully attested by then Tehsildar Nissar Ahmed Shad without proper verification or approval from the Custodian Department, the officials said, adding further investigation is underway.
