 Atul Sharma
Early Times Report
Jammu, July 28: In a major breakthrough, the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch Kashmir has arrested four individuals in connection with a high-profile land scam involving fake mutations and manipulation of official revenue records in Srinagar and Budgam districts. However, a serving female Tehsildar—Nusrat Aziz, who is also implicated in multiple other corruption cases—remains absconding along with two other accused.
The case, registered under FIR No. 14/2025, involves seven individuals, including two revenue officials, who are accused of running an organized racket to fraudulently transfer prime land by tampering with Khasra numbers and inserting false entries into land records.
Four persons arrested by the Crime Branch included Riyaz Ahmad Bhat (Nowgam, Srinagar), Mohammad Shafi Lone alias Shafi Cheeni (Peerbagh, Srinagar), Shahnawaz Ahmad Rather (Padshahi Bagh, Srinagar), and Shabir Ahmad Wani (Bagandar, Lasjan)
The accused allegedly defrauded multiple landowners and illegally transferred land ownership to non-owners, causing significant financial loss and public distress.
The absconding accused include: Nusrat Aziz, then Tehsildar of Balhama, currently also facing four other FIRs, two with the Crime Branch and two with the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Ashiq Ali, then Patwari of Balhama, and Shamima Akhter, wife of accused Mohammad Shafi Lone.
The scam came to light after a woman filed a complaint with the Crime Branch alleging that she had purchased over 5 kanals of land for Rs 88.4 lakh from Mohammad Shafi Lone and exchanged two additional kanals at Gooripora. The sale deeds were later returned with tampered Khasra numbers, facilitating a fraudulent takeover of part of the land by Riyaz Ahmad Bhat, who falsely claimed ownership and sold it forward.
Preliminary investigation revealed that false entries were made in the land records by Tehsildar Nusrat Aziz and Patwari Ashiq Ali to benefit Bhat, who had no legal claim to the land.
The case is being investigated under Sections 167, 420, 120-B RPC, and Section 5(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act, Svt. 2006.
Notably, Nusrat Aziz and other accused are also named in a prior case (FIR No. 08/2021) under similar charges of cheating, forgery, and criminal conspiracy, which is reportedly nearing completion.
Authorities have intensified efforts to apprehend the remaining accused and dismantle what is being described as one of the most serious recent examples of systemic corruption in the region's revenue department. |
