VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Nov 14: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday directed the state Anti-Corruption Bureau to lodge a preliminary enquiry against three revenue officials in the infamous 2011 Deoghar district land scam.
The investigation has been ordered against the then circle officers of Deoghar block Amar Prasad and Jaibardhan Kumar besides the then district registrar Rahul Choubey.
In an official statement released by the state government, these officials issued land possession certificates of 114.78 decimal of land located at Shyamganj mauza to certain land mafias. The land under question was of non-saleable category. Besides, the nature of the land was converted from non- transferable to transferable.
Land mafias sold about 771.59 acres of non-saleable land in connivance with revenue staff and officials. The scam was exposed during the regime of the Mastram Meena when he was the Deputy Commissioner of Deoghar. Recommending vigilance inquiry of the matter, he had submitted a report of 29 such cases where documents were changed, fabricated and even destroyed to change the nature of non-saleable and non- transferable land. The scam mainly flourished during the FY 2009 and 2012. The then Arjun Munda government ordered a CBI inquiry. One Dhruwa Parihasta was touted as the kingpin of the scam. Dhanbad unit of the CBI investigated and submitted a chargesheet before special court. Recently, the Enforcement Directorate also lodged an ECIR (equivalent to FIR) in the Deoghar land scam.
