The probe into allegations of irregularities in the purchase of land for the Delhi-Meerut expressway project is complete and has been submitted to Meerut Divisional Commissioner Prabhat Kumar.
Dr. Kumar had ordered the probe after receiving several complaints from the villagers that some officials allegedly bought land in Ghaziabad from them in the names of their proxies after the high-profile infrastructure project was notified in 2012. According to a senior official who was a part of the four-member probe committee, the inquiry unearthed that fraud worth ₹16 crore was committed by the district officials.
Those who allegedly benefited from the corruption, reveals the probe, include an official in the office of Ghaziabad DM.
₹16,000-crore scam
“Civil sale and purchase of land after a notification is issued is not legal. But the officials concerned did not tell the farmers about the notification and in 2012 got their relatives to buy lands from farmers at the circle rate between ₹1,700 to ₹1,800 per square metre. Almost immediately after that they sold the same land to the government at the rate of ₹7,000 to ₹8,000 per square metre. In the entire process a fraud of over ₹16 crore was committed,” said an official who was a part of the four-member inquiry committee.
