“They got Sub-Division Magistrate Durga Shakti Nagpal shunted out as, through her recent actions, she had threatened the very existence of the sand mining and land-grabbing mafia in Gautam Budh Nagar, which has the backing of political masters, and not because she targeted a mosque in Kadalpur as is being alleged,” claimed Hazrat Sayed Bhureshah Committee secretary Kadeer Khan here on Monday. The Committee manages Wakf Board properties in the area.
Recounting the sequence of events following the demolition of the mosque wall on July 27, Mr. Khan told The Hindu : “Soon after the news spread, a Congress politician got announcements made in nearby mosques asking people to join protests and extending his support to the cause. He visited the spot the same day. Then the Bahujan Samaj Party MP went to that village. The following day Samajwadi Party leader Narendra Bhati also paid a visit and told the villagers that he had got the SDM suspended. All politicians were queuing up for votes.”
“Had they been serious about our community, they should have long ago taken a stand against people who have grabbed Wakf property worth crores in the district,” he said.
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Mr. Khan said he along with his colleagues had been fighting for the cause of Wakf properties since 2008. “We lodged complaints with the district administration, but no action was taken as those involved have strong political backing. We managed to get an FIR registered at Dankaur police station in May 2012, copies of which were sent to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Urban Development Minister Azam Khan. I had recently gone to the District Magistrate’s office to lodge protest when I was introduced to Ms. Nagpal. To our pleasant surprise, she was the first officer who showed great interest and zealously pursued our case,” said Mr. Khan.
In July 2012, an area police officer had also given a report stating that properties worth crores had been grabbed. “He was soon transferred out of the police station. Last November, the area land revenue officer had found some false entries in record books and recommended that they should be struck off following due process of law.”
Through a letter to the SDM, the Committee submitted a list of the affected properties, fraudulently registered in different names and sold off. “Taking cognisance, Ms. Nagpal had on July 10 issued instructions to the land revenue official reminding that the notices served on the parties involved had not yielded any response. In fact, we later learnt, they had even refused to receive the notices. However, barely a fortnight later, they got an opportunity in the mosque issue to get rid of the SDM on trumped up charges that it threatened communal harmony in the area,” said Mr. Khan, adding that the Committee representatives would organise a demonstration at the District Magistrate’s office on Tuesday to seek her reinstatement.
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Mr. Khan alleged that illegal sand mining in the district was the handiwork of the same group of persons with political backing.
On condition of anonymity, district administration and the police officers maintained that before the mosque wall was demolished on July 27, Circle Officer (Jewer) Wasim Khan and the area land revenue official had visited the spot and held a meeting with the locals to apprise them that the structure was illegal and had to be brought down as per a Supreme Court directive. “However, the locals -- who had shown no resistance in getting rid of the wall -- are now alleging that they were not given prior information. Protests in the village started only when the issue was politicised,” claimed an official.