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Land record of several acres ‘forged’ in Araria record room, probe finds
The manipulation or forgery of papers of several acres of land was discovered when the documents kept in the record room were checked
A case of “manipulation in land record” purportedly committed during statewide land survey in Bihar has come to light in Araria district. The manipulation or forgery of papers of several acres of land was discovered when the documents kept in the record room were checked.
The manipulations came into notice during investigation carried out on the basis of the complaint of land owner, Mohammad Nishad, a resident of Bhagwanpur falling under Jokihat police station of Araria district. He had alleged in his complaint that his land was being sold on the basis of the forged papers.
The FIR was registered at town police station on December 15 against ten persons, including two MTS (Multi Tasking Staff) – Rohit Ranjan, a resident of Forbesganj, Araria, and Mohammad Shahnawaz, a resident of Supaul district on the basis of the written complaint of record keeper Mohammad Shafi Anwar under sections 318 (4) (cheating by dishonestly inducing someone to deliver property or alter valuable securities), 338 (Forgery of valuable, will etc), 36 (3) (forgery with the intent to cheat), 340 (2) (fraudulently using a forged document or electronic record as genuine) and 61 (2) (criminal conspiracy) of BNS (Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita).
The other accused in the FIR are Mohammad Sajid, Mohammad Nazim, Shah Fahad Alam, Mojahid, Manzar, Shahbaaz, Senu and Khaza – all residents of Araria.
According to the FIR, manipulations were done in three pages of land records (Khatian) page no 344, 345 and 346 of the record no 10272 between August and October involving several acres of land. The exact area of land has not been mentioned. “It will go into several acres,” officials investigating the case told HT.
Explaining the modus operandi of the accused, police said, “The accused removed front pages of three land records and later papers with different names were attached to them to sell the land on forged papers.”
Police didn’t rule out the possibility of a big racket involved in the forgery of land papers.
Sub-registrar Kaushal Kumar Jha, while talking to HT over phone, said, “Yes, soon the matter came to our notice, we lodged a case for proper investigation into the matter. Both the MTS allegedly involved in it have been removed.”
He said, “We have handed over the CCTV footage to the police investigating the case.”
Sources said, “This is not a new case, such things were reported in March this year and the matter was hushed up for obvious reasons.” He added, “The inflated price of land during the last few years especially after several new projects have come up such as construction of border roads and railway tracks has given rise to the nexus between government employees and the land mafia in the district.”
A lawyer, who has expertise in land-related issues in Araria, said, “The government agencies can find out all the culprits but they will hardly do it as it seems they are in cahoots with the mafia.”
Similarly, people from civil society who have been tracking the cases of fraudulent land sale and purchase by the mafia-government officer nexus, are uncertain that the wrong-doers will be punished. “Everything will pass off silently and both administration/police and people will forget the case,” said one activist.
An officer in Araria, withholding his identity, told HT, “It was the then superintendent of police (SP) S W Lande who tried to expose the nexus between administration and land brokers but he got transferred from the district in 2013 and the land mafia remains active.”
In April, Bhagalpur police had claimed to have busted a major racket of land brokers involved in stealing land records from record room and arrested three members from Katihar and recovered some of the stolen land papers. The theft was committed in September last year from the record room of Bhagalpur. It was one rare case that saw some arrests.
