Raipur, February 11 Two officials from the revenue department, who were implicated in alleged irregularities in the distribution of compensation for land acquired for a Bharatmala road project in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh, were arrested on Wednesday.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offences Wing had registered a case last year over alleged fraud in the demarcation, mutation, transfer of land ownership, and other revenue processes in some villages of the Abhanpur area during land acquisition for the Raipur-Visakhapatnam economic corridor in 2021-22, causing a loss of approximately Rs 32 crore to the exchequer.
Shashikant Kurre, then tehsildar of Abhanpur, and Lakheshwar Prasad Kiran, then naib tehsildar of Gobra-Nawapara, allegedly misused their official positions and conspired with subordinate patwaris, revenue inspectors, land brokers, and others to forge revenue records.
As a result, certain beneficiaries received compensation several times higher than their actual entitlement, causing financial losses of crores to the state exchequer, an official said.
Kurre and Kiran had earlier moved bail petitions in the Supreme Court, which were rejected. A Special Court in Raipur had issued permanent arrest warrants and proclamations against them and other absconding accused, he said.
The duo was produced before the Special Court, which granted custodial remand to the ACB/EOW. Further investigation is underway, the official added.
In October last year, the ACB/EOW filed its first chargesheet in the alleged Bharatmala project land compensation scam, naming 10 accused, including two public servants, who were earlier arrested in the case.
The EOW investigation had found that parcels of land were demarcated following a nexus between revenue officials and brokers. The land was mutated using forged documents in Nayakbandha, Tokro and Urla villages and documents were prepared with backdated entries.
Inflated compensation was allegedly claimed and disbursed based on fake records, leading to an estimated loss of Rs 28 crore to the government, it claimed.
Additionally, the government allegedly suffered a loss of over Rs 2 crore by paying compensation again for land in Nayankbandha village that had already been acquired earlier for a water reservoir, as per the chargesheet.
In another instance, compensation of more than Rs 2 crore was allegedly claimed in the name of a private individual, Uma Tiwari, through forged documents for land owned by others, the agency claimed.
Overall, the alleged scam caused a loss of approximately Rs 32 crore to the exchequer, officials said.
