Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has launched a criminal investigation into an alleged large-scale evacuee property land scam involving government officials and private beneficiaries, an official said on Saturday.
Evacuee property refers to the assets and lands left behind by individuals who migrated from India to Pakistan during the 1947 Partition.
Addressing a press conference here, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), ACB, Javid Hassan, said the investigation follows a “major scam” involving the illegal exchange and manipulation of valuable evacuee land in Srinagar.
It has brought to light alleged “serious irregularities and fraudulent acts” by certain officials of the Revenue and Custodian Evacuee Property Departments, in active collusion with private individuals for unlawful enrichment, the SSP said.
According to Hassan, the anti-graft agency received “reliable” information about the exchange of prime evacuee property land measuring five kanals and five marlas for proprietary land measuring five kanals and 17 marlas located in the high-security Gupkar Road area of the city.
The exchange was executed without obtaining the mandatory no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Defence Estates Office and in blatant violation of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court’s directions, as well as established government procedures regulating such transactions, the ACB officer said.
An inquiry conducted by the agency revealed that the involved public servants had “deliberately ignored” legal requirements, “manipulated” land records, and “colluded” with private parties to facilitate the “unlawful swap”.
“These actions were aimed at extending undue benefits to select beneficiaries while causing wrongful loss to the state exchequer,” the SSP said.
The probe has revealed that official records — particularly revenue extracts and tenancy columns — were tampered with and falsified to conceal the true nature of ownership and tenancy rights, he added.
Certain officials allegedly attested and verified false revenue entries and enabled the registration of evacuee property in private names. The value of the exchanged properties was grossly disproportionate, with the evacuee land on the Gupkar Road being of high commercial and strategic importance, Hassan said.
The deliberate bypassing of the NOC requirement and other mandatory procedures indicated a “premeditated conspiracy”, the SSP said.
“The acts amount to criminal misconduct, abuse of official position, forgery, and conspiracy to cause wrongful gain to private individuals and wrongful loss to the government,” he said, adding that this has also “compromised the integrity of official custodianship over evacuee properties or assets”.
Based on the findings, a case has been registered. An investigation is underway to determine the extent of illegal financial transactions and establish individual roles and responsibilities, according to the ACB officer.
Arrests and departmental actions are expected as the case progresses, he said.
