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Beed police form SIT to probe arbitration orders in land acquisition cases
Beed police on Friday formed SIT to investigate issuance of backdated arbitration orders prepared using forged signatures of the then district collector
Pune: In a major development exposing alleged large-scale manipulation in land acquisition arbitration proceedings, Beed police on Friday formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the issuance of backdated arbitration orders prepared using forged signatures of the then district collector.
As many as 154 fabricated arbitration orders were issued between March 1 and April 17 this year and sanctioned enhanced compensations worth ₹241.62 crore, said officials.
Vivek Johnson, collector of Beed district, and additional district collector of Beed, along with senior revenue officials, recently visited the land acquisition coordination office of the Jayakwadi project, the sub-divisional officer’s office in Beed, and related departments. During the inspection, several files raised suspicion, prompting authorities to examine the mobile phones and WhatsApp conversations of some suspects. This revealed frequent references to issuing orders under old dates, suggesting a systematic method of forging official documents.
Johnson said, “According to preliminary findings, officers discovered that arbitration and appeal orders were deliberately back-dated and issued under the forged signature of the then district collector. Further scrutiny indicated that around 40 more such orders were being planned for issuance in November using the same modus operandi.”
Johnson said, “A committee appointed to conduct an initial probe found that 154 fabricated arbitration orders had been issued between March 1 and April 17 this year. All covering letters related to these orders carried the date April 17, but were received by the Jayakwadi project office and the sub-divisional officer’s office between one and five months later. Authorities have noted that 50 of these orders were suspiciously shown as passed on a single day, without mandatory signatures in the daily register or confirmation of party presence.
The fabricated orders sanctioned enhanced compensations worth ₹241.62 crore. Of this, approximately ₹73 crore—funds received from the National Highway No. 211 office at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar—was disbursed through the concerned land acquisition officer, indicating prima facie misappropriation of government funds. Officials also noted that the land acquisition coordination office maintained no register or proceedings record while issuing these orders.
The initial inquiry identified several government staff members, contractual workers, and advocates allegedly linked to the malpractice. These include assistant revenue officers, data entry operators, operators attached to land acquisition offices, a retired contractual employee, officials from the national highways office, and multiple advocates. Suspension proceedings have begun against key officers and staff involved.
Police said that criminal cases have been registered against all officials, employees and advocates allegedly connected to the racket.
The SIT will now focus on uncovering the full extent of the conspiracy, the financial trail, and the roles of each accused as the investigation continues.
