₹60.8 cr assets seized over illegal housing project near Noida airport; 3 held

The seized land is located in Goroli village, Tappal in Aligarh district near Jewar, that falls under the Yeida’s notified area, where they were allegedly developing the illegal project

GREATER NOIDA: Three people have been arrested and around 40,596 square metres land worth ₹60.89 crore has been seized for allegedly developing illegal housing projects on the government land, under provisions of the Gangsters Act, said the police and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida) officials on Saturday.

The step came as an action against the land mafia under provisions of the Gangsters Act for allegedly developing illegal housing projects on government land. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Archives)

The seized land is located in Goroli village, Tappal in Aligarh district near Jewar, that falls under the Yeida’s notified area, where they were allegedly developing the illegal project, said police, adding that they used to lure customers saying that due to upcoming Noida airport the plots’ rate will increase manifold soon.

Police identified them as Ajit Kumar, 45, from Shahberi, Greater Noida, and Praveen Kumar Patel, from Chipyana, Greater Noida, and Shravan Kumar, 47, a resident of Bishanpura village, Noida, habitual of cheating the public with land related forged documents.

The step came as an action against the land mafia under provisions of the Gangsters Act for allegedly developing illegal housing projects on government land. They were found to be allegedly selling plots without any approval of Yeida, and the actual owner farmers, officials added.

“We had directed police to run a coordinated drive against the criminals cheating the public, and indulging in unlawful activities in Yamuna Expressway’s notified area meant for planned development. We have asked the police to identify and take stern action in future too,” said senior superintendent of police (Aligarh) Sanjeev Suman.

The three suspects used to show someone else’s land, without owning it, for purchasing and taking money from buyers through agreement to sell land documents, said police.

According to the first information report registered at Tappal police station, these three people organised camps on Saturdays and Sundays, luring customers from the Delhi-NCR and also from nearby villages.

After multiple complaints, the police sent a team in plain clothes to the site office pretending to be customers. When police inspected the land record shown to be on sale, the actual owner farmer denied selling it, said police.

Following complaints from both farmers and customers, cases were registered against the three and they were arrested, police said, adding they were searching for other such suspects.

According to rules, any realty project including housing, commercial, institutional and others can only be launched in notified areas, if permitted by Yeida.

“The general public must be aware of the fact that if any project has got no approval from Yeida, this is illegal… The drive against illegal projects will continue,” said Yeida’s chief executive officer RK Singh.