Srinagar, Dec 21: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch Kashmir has filed a chargesheet in a high-profile land fraud case involving four senior revenue officials and a private individual, before the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption Court, Srinagar.
The chargesheet has been submitted in FIR No. 08/2021 under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120-B of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC), read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Those named in the chargesheet include then Tehsildar Settlement Srinagar Ms Nusrat; then Tehsildar South Srinagar Shahbaz; Patwari Mohammad Yaseen; Patwari Ashiq and private individual Riyaz Ahmad, a resident of Nowgam, Srinagar.
According to the investigation, the case arose from a complaint by land purchasers who had legally bought two plots of land at Balhama, Srinagar, measuring one kanal and seven marlas each, along with an additional 14½ marlas, through registered sale deeds. The complainants were handed possession and mutations were duly attested in their favour.
However, investigators found that the seller, in alleged connivance with the revenue officials, later manipulated official land records and illegally cancelled the valid mutations. This led to the restoration of ownership rights in favour of the seller, enabling the same land to be resold to other parties, resulting in financial loss to the original buyers.
The probe further revealed that basic mutations were attested on predated documents at a time when some of the concerned officers were not even posted in the jurisdiction, pointing to a well-planned criminal conspiracy.
Officials said documentary evidence and official records collected during the investigation established the involvement of the accused in the fraudulent transactions.
The chargesheet has now been filed for judicial scrutiny before the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, Srinagar.
The EOW stated that it remains committed to curbing corruption and protecting the lawful property rights of citizens.
