Fourteen builders, six sub registrars, including current District Revenue Officer (DRO) of Gurugram, were booked by Manesar Police in Haryana for fraud and cheating in land registration procedure, misappropriation of government funds and misuse of power under Prevention of Corruption Act, police said on Thursday.

Those who have been booked under the same sections also included five registry clerks and four computer operators.

The case was registered following an order by one of Gurugram's Sessions Court.

Realtor Vatika Ltd and thirteen other builders having registered office at Devika Towers in New Delhi's Nehru Place area were also the accused.

"Sub Registrars Hariom Attri, Pankaj Setia, K.S. Dhaka, Balraj Singh, Lalit Gupta and Ranvijay (joint Sub Registrar) then posted at Manesar tehsil and five registry clerks and four computer operators, including a woman employee, were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Prevention of Corruption Act 1988," read the FIR.

Attri is currently posted at Municipal Corporation of Gurugram's (MCG) DRO.

Gurugram Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh told IANS: "Since the matter is sub-judice and police is investigating the matter, revenue department will proceed further as per the outcome of case."

The court of Judicial Magistrate 1st class (JMIC) Naveen Kumar on December 1 passed the order to file a criminal complaint against all the accused at Manesar Police Station.

All the accused, posted at Manesar tehsil between 2009 and 2013, committed the crime at the behest of the builders.

Ramesh Yadav, a Right To Information (RTI) activist and resident of Manesar village, approached the court after police did not register a First Information Report (FIR) even after an Assistant Commissioner of Police accepted in his probe that the officials and builders were guilty under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The matter came to light after the accused registered various plots in Sihi village here in sector 83 and 84. "Builders and revenue officials showed the plots in Sihi village outside MCG during the land registration and after the registration, authorities again put the registered plot under the MCG jurisdiction," complainant Yadav said.

Sihi village falls under the jurisdiction of the MCG. "Registration fee under the MCG area was seven per cent while outside the MCG was five per cent. The accused did a scam of over Rs 5 crore 9 lakh," the complainant said.

"We demand an enquiry by Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the scam," Yadav, retired Indian Air Force officer, told IANS.

"I have approached Gurugram Commissioner of Police K.K. Rao fearing threat to me and my family," he said.

Yadav has been one of the key office bearer of 'Adhikar', a group of RTI activists and whistle blowers.

"Our team members have been thrashed twice during the last one year for obtaining facts through RTI," complainant Yadav said.

--IANS

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