E-Paper
Land fraud in Mohali village: Vigilance Bureau arrests two property dealers
The two property dealers tampered with land records in collusion with revenue officials to sell off 578 acres in Majrian village
Probing into the fraudulent mutation of 578 acres of village common land in Mohali’s Majrian village, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested two property dealers.
Identified as Rabbi Singh and Banarsi Das, they are accused of tampering with revenue record in connivance with officials of the revenue department and selling the land.
The accused revenue officials, naib tehsildar Varinderpal Singh Dhoot, joint sub-registrar Rupinder Singh Manku, and patwaris Daulat Ram and Iqbal Singh, were already booked under Prevention of Corruption Act in May last year.
A spokesperson of the bureau said through investigation, the economic offence wing of VB found that the accused property dealers, in collusion with revenue officials, fabricated the revenue record regarding mutation of Majrian village’s common land on May 21, 2004.
The mutation was filed by the villagers for division of their respective land pieces, of which they were actual owners. But the accused managed to alter the mutation of 558 acres of village land in the name of 14 persons, 12 of which were neither the owners nor residents of the village.
The remaining two persons are residents of Majrian village and own some of the land in question, but their shares were increased by the accused revenue officials. Later, in June 2014, 578 acres of village land were fraudulently transferred to people who didn’t own the land.
The spokesperson said accused Rabbi was responsible for procuring general power of attorney (GPA) of 69.68 acres under a fake name and sold approximately 42 acres to different people using this GPA.
Accused Banarsi sold approximately 53 acres to different people through fake mutation.
They will be produced in court for remand for further investigation in the case, the spokesperson added.