Mafia-Advocate-Official Nexus in Land Fraud: Police Commissioner Diganta Barah

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Owners of land considered weak in nature are more likely to have their property snatched from them by a nexus of a section of land sharks, advocates, and government officials.

This fact emerged during a press conference by city police commissioner Diganta Barah on Friday. Commissioner Barah said a nexus of a section of the land mafia, advocates, and corrupt government officials have been using fraudulent means to transfer land ownership in the Kamrup (Metro) district for a long time now. He said, "The police usually file a case in land matters only when violence is involved or there is a report of unauthorized entry into a plot of land. These cases are in the police records. Recently, it came to the attention of the police and revenue officials in the district administration that fraud cases in land have increased after many such complaints came in. We analyzed the cases and discovered several cases of land grabbing by using fraud."

Barah said that in 2023, there were 242 complaints of land-related fraud, of which 82 cases were registered and 71 arrested. In 2022, there were 215 such complaints, with 53 cases registered and 34 arrested.

Barah said the police and the district administration officials took up two cases of land fraud. One such case, registered at Basistha police station, involved a fake sale deed of a plot of land. In Basistha PS Case No. 645/2023, it was stated that on October 25, 2023, Someswar Tumung, aged 60 years, lodged a complaint that a plot measuring 7 kathas 10 lecha legally owned by him and his family has been shown to be registered in the name of some Rajesh Roy, and it was shown to have been sold by the complainant's father and uncle in the year 1992 vide Sale Deed No. 804/1992 dated February 7, 1992.

During the investigation, the modus operandi has come to light that: During the registration of the sale deed through the process of commissioning, genuine landowners are in the dark, and someone else claiming to be the landowner appears and signs. This is due to loopholes like: the process of registration through commissioning is not secured as unauthorized persons are deputed to get registration done through commission.

Preparation of fake sale deeds from earlier years: Land brokers, government officials of the sub-registrar office, Mohoris, and advocates gang up and prepare a fake sale deed between two parties and then show it as registered in pre-1998 years, mostly dated December 31st. The volume register of the sub-registrar office, where all sale deeds are copied officially for that particular year in which this fake sale deed was shown to be registered, is taken out of the record room of the sub-registrar office unauthorizedly, and an entry is made by copying the contents of the fake sale deed in that volume register.

Kamrup (M) DC Pallav Gopal Jha said, "In the last six months, there have been 13 cases of land-grabbing that have come to light. We, in the district administration, along with Circle officials, are examining the cases."

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