ED raids multiple locations across five States in Uttarakhand’s land registry fraud
Saturday, 31 AUGUST 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Enforcement Directorate conducted search operations in connection with Uttarakhand’s land registry fraud case which is considered the State’s largest-ever registry scam. The raids were reportedly carried out across multiple locations in five States including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Assam and Punjab. According to the officials, the ED conducted searches at about 18 locations in these five States. Out of 18, about 10 locations were reportedly in Dehradun and nearby areas. The operation targeted several accused of the scam including land mafia, government employees and officials working in registry offices, advocates and certain builders. These accused included advocates Kamal Virmani and Imran Ahmad, Mohammad Sameer Kamyab, Ajay Mohan Paliwal, late Kanwarpal Singh alias KP Singh and Ajay Pundir, among several others.
The ED reportedly conducted raids at the properties of Virmani, Ahmad, Paliwal, Kamyab and other accused including Jitendra Kharbanda, Ramesh Chandra and others in Dehradun and nearby areas. Besides this, the police also raided Singh’s properties in Saharanpur.
Virmani, Ahmad and Singh were allegedly involved in the scam for over a decade and scammed about Rs 500 crore during this period. As per the police, Singh used to bring old blank papers and stamps from various cities like Meerut and Delhi and used his accomplices to copy old property documents on those blank papers. They used to prepare fake deeds by copying the written documents on old stamps and blank papers exactly how they were written in original property documents brought by Singh. He reportedly used to destroy original papers by tearing and burning them. He then used to replace the original property papers in the Dehradun’s registry office with the help of Virmani and others. They had been allegedly doing this for at least 10 years, as per the police. They all were arrested last year. Singh died in the district jail of Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur in October last year due to hypertension and heart attack, as per the police. This scam came to light two years ago and since then, the police have registered 12 cases and arrested over 20 accused in the case. The ED’s teams conducted raids till late on Friday. The ED’s intensified crackdown is expected to expose more individuals and networks involved in this extensive scam, as the investigation progresses across various States.
