In a major development in the National Highway 74 land compensation scam, the Special Investigation Team submitted the charge-sheet against 12 accused in the court of the district and session judge and special judge (PCA) Kumkum Rani. According to sources the 5600-page long charge-sheet is against 12 accused including two Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officers and two working as Tehsildars at the time. The accused whose remands are ending are to be presented in the court on Saturday. The accused are charged with irregularities amounting to about Rs 212 crore of Government funds.
According to advocate Sushil Kumar Sharma, on Friday, investigating officer Swatantra Kumar of the SIT probing into the NH 74 scam submitted a 5,600 charge-sheet in the court against the scam accused including suspended SubDivisional Magistrate Bhagat Singh Fonia, former special land acquisition officer DP Singh, the then Tehsildars in charge Madan Mohan Paladiya and Bhole lal, suspended Sangrah Amin Anil Kumar, data entry operator Arpan Kumar, former Peshkars (caller) Sanjay Kumar and Vikas Chauhan, Jaspur Tehsil staff Ram Samuch, farmers Charan Singh and Om Prakash along with stamp vendor Zeeshan.
The accused have been charged with conspiring and showing agriculture land as non-agricultural land to orchestrate scam in compensation for land.
According to Sharma, after filing of the charge-sheet, the accused are to be presented in the court on Saturday after which their judicial remand is expected to be extended. Apart from this, the judicial remand of scam accused former special land acquisition officer Anil Shukla, Tehsildar Mohan Singh and employee Sant Ram is ending on Saturday. Their remand is expected to be extended through video conferencing. Bail applications have also been presented in the court on behalf of accused Anil Shukla and Mohan Singh, which are also expected to be heard by the court on Saturday. Others including former Sub Divisional Magistrate NS Naganyal and some farmers, accused in this scam are absconding.
The procedure for attaching their properties is underway, informed Sharma.