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Umbha massacre: SIT finds six govt officials among 16 ‘involved’ in fraudulent land transfer
The Uttar Pradesh Special Investigation Team (SIT) completed its probe and found the involvement of at least 16 people, including six government officials, in a
The Uttar Pradesh Special Investigation Team (SIT) completed its probe and found the involvement of at least 16 people, including six government officials, in a dispute over possession of farming land that led to the killing of 11 tribals in Sonbhadra district’s Umbha village on July 17, 2019, a senior police official said on Sunday.
The senior official said these 16 people were found involved in fraudulently transferring gram sabha (government) land, which was in possession of tribal families since the pre-Independence period, to a farming society and thereafter transferring it in the name of individuals as well as reselling it.
They said the investigation report had been sent to SIT’s legal cell to decide the charges to be framed against all the 16 people and it was likely to be finalised on Monday.
A senior SIT official said the investigation suggested the main violation of norms was done when the farming society land was transferred to individuals in the names of Asha Mishra and her daughter Vineeta Sharma alias Kiran Kumari by the then subdivisional magistrate (SDM) of Sonbhadra Ashok Kumar Srivastava in 1989.
The second major irregularity was detected when an assistant land record officer Raj Kumar sent a report in favour of local village pradhan Yagya Dutt on the basis of which the latter got an order issued to take possession of the land in July 2019, he added.
The official said the tribal families raised an objection to transfer of land multiple times for 64 years since 1955 when 212 bigha of land was transferred to the Adarsh Krishi Sahkari Samiti, but their requests remain unheard.
“Time and again, the tribals demanded that the authorities should look into the records of Aadhar Varsh Khatauni, the first land revenue record prepared in 1951 after independence. The 1951 land record clearly said the land belonged to the gram sabha and it was in possession of tribal families who were farming it since the pre-Independence (period),” the officials asserted.
He said the tribal families would have got justice if any of the officers had considered their request to see Adarsh Varsh Khatauni.
“Other than 10 people who were benefited by the transfer of land, a charge sheet will be filed against six government officials responsible for transferring government land to the farming society in the names of the individuals without checking the records of 1951,” he added.
The tribal families’ request to consider 1951 land records before reaching a final conclusion in the dispute over possession of the land was rejected for the last time on July 6, 2019 and the same was conveyed to them by post on July 13. Only four days later, 11 tribal people were killed, allegedly in indiscriminate firing by village pradhan Yagya Dutt and his aides in the dispute over vacating the land.
