CBI registers corruption case against Aurangabad DM

According to a CBI FIR, registered on Thursday, about seven acres of land was illegally acquired by the accused. A different person, who has since died, was showed as the owner of the land. (Express photo by Purushottam Sharma/Archives)

The CBI has registered a corruption case against the district magistrate of Bihar’s Aurangabad, Kanwal Tanuj, and others, officials said on Friday.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in acquisition of land in the Nabinagar area in the district for a power plant by Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Ltd (BRBCL), a subsidiary of NTPC Ltd, they said.

The agency on Friday carried out searches at the residence of the district magistrate in connection with the case. According to a CBI FIR, registered on Thursday, about seven acres of land was illegally acquired by the accused. A different person, who has since died, was showed as the owner of the land.

It was revealed that C Shiv Kumar, Chief Executive Officer, BRBCL, Nabinagar, had entered a criminal conspiracy with Tanuj, unidentified officers of the company, district administration and Gopal Prasad Singh, who has died, the CBI claimed.

According to the FIR, Tanuj, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Bihar cadre, forged documents and showed Singh as the owner of the land.

According to the procedure, possession of land is taken in the presence of the owners after identification of their land.

When BRBCL staff and district administration officials went to the site on April 11 and 12, 2017 for possession, the claimant (Singh) allegedly could not identify his land and many villagers, who had gathered there, claimed the land did not belong to him, the FIR read.

However, the accused officers got a cheque of Rs 2.07 crore issued from BRBCL in favour of Singh in May last year and the money was subsequently withdrawn, causing a wrongful loss to the company, it read.

A case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code was registered against Kumar, Tanuj, unidentified officers of BRBCL and local administration, and other private persons, the CBI said.

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