Kondhwa Khurd land scam now pegged at Rs 300 cr Pune, November 6 THE Kondhwa Khurd land scam, where glaring irregularities in 80 land deals worth Rs 100 crore was brought to light by The Indian Express on October 25, is now snowballing into something much larger with 305 cases now getting unearthed and the size of the scam is put in excess of Rs 300 crore. Though it was an
RTI application that put the Kondhwa Khurd land record tampering issue under the scanner, it was only after this newspaper broke the story that the department enhanced the scope of the inquiry thus bringing under its net more cases of falsification of entries in 7/12 extracts.
The land records department officials at the district collectorate are planning to file criminal complaints against those involved in preparing the bogus correction deeds and they now claim what’s been unearthed is only the tip of the iceberg and the scam could well run into well over Rs 1,000 crore. They also indicate that the names of a few prominent builders and land sharks will crop up during the course of the investigation.
The city police have begun investigations into the case with two crime branch officers have been assigned the job. “A probe is being conducted into the case and action will be initiated once it is completed in a week’s time. It is a very big case involving bogus correction deeds and two officers have been given the task of meticulously investigating the case,” Deputy commissioner of police (Crime) Anil Kumbhare said.
“As many as 305 cases of correction deeds of various types have been detected during investigation. A close scrutiny of the documents was being conducted and suo motu criminal complaints will be filed against those found guilty. Action will be initiated against employees involved in the scam,” said Tanaji Shinde, haveli sub-divisional tehsildar, the officer in-charge for land records.
The scam involved the tampering of original records in the 7/12 extract, by replacing the names of genuine owners with that of others and also tamper with the size of the plots, whereby many found that their landholdings had got reduced in the land records.
The original owners rarely got to know till it is too late that their property had been grabbed by some stranger who would by then have sold it to a third party.
“The scam is much bigger than what has been brought to light so far. A land mafia is engaged in this racket in connivance with the land record officials and it is not limited only to Kondhwa Khurd. The role of PMC and land record officials needs to be investigated,” said Altaf Naik, whose
RTI application led to the scam getting unearthed.
On October 25, the Express had written about the 80 cases where land records were falsified and had put the scam size at Rs 100 crore. Officers in the land records department now admit that the scam has been going on unchecked since 1980.
The inquiry, that began on October 19 after Naik moved a
RTI application, threw light on 80 bogus ‘correction deeds’ of land documents pertaining to 10 acres of residential plot on prime urban land. Currently, the cost of land is Rs 3,500 per sq ft in Kondhwa Khurd.
Kondhwa Khurd land scam now pegged at Rs 300 cr 