FIR registered against 12 in land leaseback scam

Greater Noida: As many as 12 people, apart from some officials of the Greater Noida Authority, banks and the district land department, have been booked for their alleged involvement in a ‘land leaseback scam’ that took place in Bisrakh in 2009-10, officials said on Monday.
The FIR was registered at Bisrakh police station against the accused for cheating and under the Prevention of Corruption Act, following a complaint by the YEIDA CEO last week. Yamuna Expressway Authority had, in fact, investigated the scam.

The issue dates back to 2009-10 when the Greater Noida Authority had mistakenly acquired parts of residential land owned by farmers for infrastructure projects. But faced with strong farmers’ protests, the Authority had decided to lease back the land to the owners. Leaseback refers to the government returning notified land to farmers.

However, around 50 hectares of land in Jalalpur village had been handed over to ‘people’ who were not the rightful owners. These ‘people’ had allegedly forged documents in connivance with lekhpals and YEIDA officials and took illegal possession of land.

The fraud came to light in June 2017 and then Meerut commissioner Prabhat Kumar ordered YEIDA CEO Arunveer Singh to conduct a probe. “After YEIDA found gross irregularities, it has now asked police to investigate how and under what circumstances people who were from Delhi, Nagpur and Mumbai got land from the Greater Noida Authority instead of the rightful owners,” sources told TOI.

When contacted, SP (rural) Vineet Jaiswal said, “Some 12 named persons and some unnamed officials of YEIDA, district administration and banks who facilitated the dealings, have been booked under section 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC, and sections 7, 8, 11 and 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.” “We are investigating the case from all angles,” he added.