Facing flak from opposition as well as directive from Jharkhand High Court against land grabbers across the State, the State government is in mood to initiate crackdown against land mafia in State. On Wednesday, the State registered an FIR against Namkum (Ranchi) CO Vinod Kumar Prajapati and Kundhit (Jamtara) CO Nityanand Prasad at Itkhori police station in Chatra district for changing nature of land by tampering with the government land records.
The action was taken on the information of present Itkhori CO Ram Vinay Sharma, whom the Chatra DC had directed to register an FIR. Other accused in the case include former Halka Karmachari Govind Lal (presently posted at Pathalgada). They had allegedly tampered with Register-2 during their posting at Itkhori in 2016.
They marked 1.26 acre government of Police Station No. 41, Account No. 147, Plot No. 1063 in the name of Lilo Kunwari (husband Parmeshwar Dayal) in Register -2, describing it as Rayati.
They allegedly had done a land scam by changing the declaration of a government land Rayati. The investigation of the case was completed in the year 2022. The DC found the incident correct. Taking this seriously, the DC ordered registration of an FIR on June 21.
On his orders, an FIR was registered on June 27. According to the information, the government has been informed of departmental action against them.
The government action assumes importance as on Wednesday, the Jharkhand High Court, upset with land grabbers, took action on the issue. The HC took suo moto cognizance of a newspaper report saying how the land mafias tried to grab the land belonging to late Justice M.Y. Eqbal, a Supreme Court judge, directed the registry to institute a suo motu writ petition arranging the chief secretary, home secretary, Ranchi senior superintendent of police (SSP) and Lower Bazar police station officer-in-charge. The HC was also upset with other land grabbers across the state.
The court further observed that ”……We would indicate that ‘the person’ whose land was attempted to be grabbed by a gang of criminals and land grabbers is not important. The situation which this court has come across is the reason this court has taken cognizance of the matter. After all, a person by becoming a judge does not lose his rights which every common man of this country possesses. The acts of vandalism and attempt to grab lands belonging to others may not necessarily affect the security of the state but would necessarily affect the public order. Such acts are likely to shake the confidence of the people in the system…prima facie, it appears to us that there are other outside forces which are instigating such incidents and protecting the anti-social elements and land grabbers. To ensure security of the common man is not merely a legal duty of the state but a constitutional mandate. If the citizens are forced to live in an atmosphere where they would apprehend loss of property, that would herald the end of rule of law.”
The HC and state government cognizance of land mafias assume importance as the government has to face criticism from different quarters after then Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan was booked for assisting sale of army land at Bariatu forging government records and documents.
