Srinagar

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Crime Branch, Jammu and Kashmir, has submitted a chargesheet in a land-fraud case involving a businessman and two retired government officials, officials said on Thursday.

The chargesheet has been filed before the Court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption, Srinagar, in a case registered in 2022 under multiple sections of the Ranbir Penal Code along with Section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.

According to officials, the accused include businessman Habibullah Bhat of Umarhair Buchpora, retired naib tehsildar Mohammad Rajab Reshi of Brein Nishat, and former patwari Syed Khurshid Ahmad of Lar in Ganderbal.

The case stemmed from a written complaint alleging that the trio had fraudulently executed a mutation of 10 marlas of land at Zoonimar in the Eidgah area in favour of Bhat on the basis of a purported sale deed. During the investigation, it was found that no such sale deed had ever been registered with the competent sub-registrar, officials said.

Inquiry findings indicated that Bhat, in alleged connivance with the then patwari and the naib tehsildar, tampered with revenue records and got mutation entries recorded using a non-existent sale deed, they added.

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“The investigation has prima facie established their role in the offence, following which the chargesheet has been filed for further judicial action,” an official statement said.