Gurugram Police book developers, officials for Rs 5 crore stamp duty scam

The accused in the case include 14 developers, six tehsildars, five registry clerks and four computer operators of the Manesar revenue office. No arrests have been made in the case till now.

Under orders from a local court, Gurugram police on Thursday registered a case against 28 parties, including private developers and Manesar revenue officials, for allegedly fudging records and causing a loss of over Rs 5 crore to the state exchequer.

The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram office. (HT File)

According to the police, 53 sale deeds were executed between 2009 and 2013 with reduced stamp duty for land in Sihi and Kherki Daula villages of Manesar Tehshil.

The accused in the case include 14 developers, six tehsildars, five registry clerks and four computer operators of the Manesar revenue office. No arrests have been made in the case till now.

The case was registered at the Manesar police station. KK Rao, commissioner of police said they will form an special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the scam. “The local police is currently investigating the case. Once the report is submitted we will plan next plan of action,” said Rao.

The matter was brought to light after a man named Ramesh Yadav brought to the notice of a district court alleging that the records were manipulated to show that Sihi village land was out of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) jurisdiction to avail reduced the stamp duty on the transaction.

Sihi village was brought under the MCG jurisdiction in 2009. For sale of land under the civic body, one will have to pay a stamp duty of 7% of the total value of land as per the prevalen circle rate in the area, rather than the 5% outside.

According to documents Yadav produced before the court, many other properties in Sihi village were registered after paying 7% stamp duty, while the 53 properties in question were registered by charging 5% stamp duty.

In the three-year period it is alleged that around 700 such registry (by reducing stamp duty) was registered in Gurugram and till now nearly 3497 registries were executed across state in such manner.

A complaint was filed in this regard to principal accountant general of Haryana in October 2013 highlighting the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, then DCP (South) conducted an inquiry and submitted a report before then commissioner in June 2016 mentioning that employees of registrar office were in connivance with builders and reduced the stamp duty by tampering with revenue records. In July 2016 the case was referred to state vigilance bureau. A case was filed before court in December 2017 for registration of FIR against the accused.

“I have demanded police to form a special investigation team as this is a massive scam,” said Yadav.

He alleged that the accused government employees collected huge amount of wealth by executing registry by reducing stamp duty. “People who were involved in the scam were promoted and despite repeated complaints they were not even questioned. I had handed over all the important documents but police did not take action. They had acted on time and had investigated the matter there would have been less loss to the state,” said Yadav.