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28 years after sale, Punjab mother-son duo booked for ‘selling’ WWII-era airstrip they never owned
The land, located in Punjab's Fattu Wala village, was the Air Force's historic Advance Landing Ground (ALG), and was used during the 1962, 1965, and 1971 wars.
A World War II-era airstrip in a Punjab village, used by the Indian Air Force, was sold in 1997. Over 28 years later, a probe has revealed that those who sold the land never actually owned it, and according to a report, the land was still in the possession of the Air Force.
The large-scale fraud expose' comes from Punjab's Ferozepur and stems from a complaint filed by a whistleblower years ago.
The land, located in Punjab's Fattu Wala village, was the Air Force's historic Advance Landing Ground (ALG), and was used during the 1962, 1965, and 1971 wars, according to news agency ANI.
The land, which has remained in official IAF possession according to records dating back to 1958-59, was sold to private individuals in 1997 by mother-son duo Usha Ansal and Naveen Chand Ansal, who allegedly used forged documents for this sale.
What probe revealed
Retired Kanungo Nishan Singh had filed a complaint in the matter several years ago, but it was only in 2021 that authorities at Punjab's Halwara Air Force Station requested a formal investigation. The complainant later moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which ordered the registration of an FIR.
Investigators uncovered that the land sale in 1997 was with the assistance of certain lower-level revenue officials. Names of Mukhtiar Singh, Jagir Singh, Surjit Kaur, Manjit Kaur, Dara Singh, Ramesh Kant and Rakesh Kant were included in the sale deal, but none of them were ever granted ownership rights.
A preliminary report by the deputy commissioner claimed the land remained under IAF control, but Nishan Singh challenged the report's accuracy, accusing officials of deliberately omitting critical facts and colluding with private parties.
Owner dead in 1991, sale in 1997
According to Nishan Singh, the complainant, the land was owned by one Madan Mohan Lal, who had moved to Delhi before 1947.
Nishan Singh alleged that six years after the land's actual owner died in 1991, some fake documents were prepared and the land was sold in 1997. "Our revenue officers kept covering up this matter and kept taking huge bribes," alleged Nishan Singh.
Following a renewed probe in May 2025, the disputed land was formally returned to the Ministry of Defence. A report, filed on June 20, 2025, said that the land was purchased by the British administration in 1945 for wartime purposes and has legally belonged to the IAF ever since.
Usha and her son, who lived in Punjab's Dumani Wala village back then, currently reside in the national capital Delhi, and have been booked for fraudulently selling the land.
(With ANI inputs)
