Admin, police teams conduct searches at 21 locations in Jmu
Teams of revenue officials along with the Jammu and Kashmir Police on Sunday conducted searches at 21 locations in two districts in Jammu and Samba in connection with missing revenue records.
Moreover, the teams took four persons including three retired revenue officers and one property dealer under custody for questioning.
They have been identified as Sadiq Poswal, property dealer, Mohd Bashir (Retd. Tehsildar), Dharam Pal (Retd. Girdawar) and Ghulam Rasool (Retd Girdawar).
Official sources said that raids were conducted in the wake of the case FIR No. 182/2021 u/s 409, 120 B IPC lodged on 07-11-2021 in Police Station Channi Himmat regarding missing revenue records viz. Lathas, Masavis etc. of village Chowadi and Sunjuwan of Tehsil Bahu. The complaint in this connection was lodged by Sub District Magistrate South.
“On November 5 last year, taking strong cognizance of missing of vital public documents of the revenue villages Sunjwan and Chowadhi in Tehsil Bahu, the Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Raghav Langer has directed Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Jammu South for registering FIR against the accused in concerned police station of the jurisdiction.
The decision comes after the findings of a committee constituted by Div. Com Jammu in June 2021 for random verification, ETS survey of encroachment of state/ Kahcharai/ Forest lands in the said Revenue villages with instructions for the reconciliation of Revenue records, which reported that Latha and Massavi (revenue maps) of village Chowadhi and Sunjwan in tehsil Bahu have been missing and not available with the field revenue officials”, said official sources.
Searches were conducted at 21 locations of known land grabbers, property dealers and serving/ retired revenue officials who had been on the radar of the authorities. The locations of said raids include Sunjwan, Chowadhi, Greater Kailash, Sanjay Nagar, Janipur, Gujjar Nagar, Bahu, Sidhra, Trikuta Nagar Extension and Satwari area in Jammu and Sarore in Samba District. The persons raided upon included three serving Revenue officials, five retired revenue officials and eight private persons, who had been allegedly involved in murky land deals, forgery/ destruction of revenue records/ land grabbing/ encroachments over state land.
Official sources said that the persons whose houses and offices were raided in Chowadhi area included Bashrat Ahmed of Chowadhi, Sadiq of Upper Chowadhi, Mohd Asgar Ali alias Tola of Upper Chowadhi, Jasmeen Choudhary of Chowadi, Mohd. Sadiq Poswal of Marble Market, Choudhary Ghulam Rasool(Retd. Girdwar) of Jallalabad, Sunjwan. They said that some documents were seized by revenue team from their residences, adding, some missing revenue documents were also recovered from their houses. The teams of revenue authorities also conducted a raid in the house of retired Tehsildar Basheer Ahmed residing near Police Station Janipur. The team also conducted a raid in the house of a private contractor namely Massod Ahmed of Shergarh, Satwari. The raid was also conducted at the residence of a retired Tehsildar Mazeed Ahmed and serving Tehsildar presently posted in Rajouri district namely Shabir Ahmed in Gujjar Nagar area.
The house of one Patwari namely Abdul Rashid of Surankote at present Asrarabad ,Sidhra posted at Poonch was also raided. The raiding team took photographs of the pass book and Aadhar card of the tenant and searched the house. At the another house of patwari Mohd Rashid Malik so near Tawi Vihar Colony Gate Sidhra posted at Balakote Mendhar Poonch, the raiding team seized Rs,450000 cash and also seized photo graphs of banks pass book and other documents. The team also raided the residence of retired Girdwar Dharampal at Sarore and seized his bank details and property statements. The team also raided the house of a notorious property dealer namely Surinder Gupta and an RTI activist Kotwal in Greater Kailash area.
The searches were held as per the laid down procedures consisting of 21 separate teams and comprised of Executive Magistrates from district Reasi, Udhampur, Rajouri and Kishtwar, Police Officers and other officials including lady constables and independent witnesses. The areas were segregated into sectors, each being supervised by SP/ Dy. SP Rank gazetted Police Officers. The whole process was closely supervised by senior officers of Police and Revenue Administration, maintaining full confidentiality.
Revenue records in various forms and in huge quantum have been recovered during searches including various incriminating documents, papers pertaining to land deals, bank locker keys the contents of which will be verified in due course of investigation. Unaccounted cash amounting to Rs.26.63 Lacs have also been seized during searches. The agencies are also looking into the aspects of money laundering, dis-proportionate assets, invoking of provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act, PMLA Act, etc. Many persons raided today already have FIRs, cases registered against them in the past under various penal sections.
It is pertinent to mention that the seized documents include original Jamabandis, Roznamcha Registers, Lathas, Mussavis and trace maps especially of revenue villages Sunjwan and Chowadhi. Arrests of a few retired revenue officials and Property dealers have also been made. Scrutiny of the seized documents is going on minutely and further arrests are likely.
