SRINAGAR, Dec 21: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) 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 chargesheet has been filed under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the RPC, read with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, before the court of the Special Judge (Anti-Corruption), Srinagar, a Crime Branch spokesperson said.
The accused include then tehsildars Nusrat Aziz and Shahbaz Bodha, two patwaris and a private individual, Riyaz Ahmad Bhat. Bodha is presently posted as Assistant Commissioner (Revenue) in Pulwama district.
According to the spokesperson, the case originated from a complaint alleging that the complainants had purchased two plots of land measuring 6,300 square feet each, along with an additional 3,950 square feet, at Balhama in Srinagar.
The land was purchased through registered sale deeds executed by accused Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, following which possession was handed over to the buyers and mutations were lawfully attested in their favour, the spokesperson said.
During the investigation, it was found that the accused seller, in criminal conspiracy with the revenue officials, manipulated official records and illegally cancelled the valid mutations.
This fraudulent act restored ownership rights in favour of the seller, enabling the resale of the same land to other parties, resulting in wrongful loss to the complainants and unlawful gain to the accused, the spokesperson added.
The investigation further established that basic mutations were attested in favour of land broker Riyaz Ahmad Bhat on predated documents, at a time when the concerned revenue officials were not even posted within the jurisdiction of the concerned tehsil.
