FIR against former Greater Noida CEO, others over land acquisition

The complainants in the case are Bisrakh village residents Kuldeep Singh, Shashi and Mukta Mohini. They had approached the court claiming that the police had refused to file an FIR.

An anti-corruption court in Meerut has directed Noida Police to lodge an FIR against Rama Raman, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Greater Noida Authority, and four other erstwhile officials and a private builder, for allegedly illegally acquiring land in Bisrakh village.

FIR against former Greater Noida CEO, others over land acquisition(Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times) (HT Photo)

Special judge Manjeet Singh Sheoran directed the Kasna Police station to lodge a first information report against former CEO Rama Raman, former deputy general manager Meena Bhargav, former Nodal officer of Urban Planning Rituraj Vyas, private builder Vaibhav Jain and two other former officials of the Greater Noida authority.

The complainants in the case are Bisrakh village residents Kuldeep Singh, Shashi and Mukta Mohini. They had approached the court claiming that the police had refused to file an FIR.

According to the complainants, their land which was being used for farming was acquired illegally by the Greater Noida authority in 2015 and was allotted to a private builder. According to rules, the authority can only require land which has not been cultivated upon.

The complainants claimed that in 2016 when they found out their land had been allotted to a private builder, authority officials promised to transfer another piece of land of the same sizes. However, from 2016 to 2018, they were not allotted any land and were allegedly asked to pay ₹20 lakh to the authority officials for the land transfer, they further claimed.

In his affidavit, Kuldeep Singh claimed authority officials conspired to acquire the land against rules and then allocated it to the private builder. “We agreed to take a transfer of land as per compensation in a meeting in 2016 but we have been made to run from pillar to post since then. Later, they refused promising any transfer of land in the first place and demanded a bribe of ₹20 lakh from us,” he said in his complaint.

Rama Raman, now posted as additional chief secretary, department of handloom and textile industry, Lucknow, said, “I have not seen the court order yet so cannot comment on it. The matter is under investigation.”

Kasna Police said they have not filed an FIR in the matter yet. “Till now, we have not received a copy of the court order and due action will be taken when we do,” said Ajay Kumar, station house officer of the Kasna police
station.