Chg: Real estate firm and its directors booked in land 'scam'

Police yesterday registered a case against a real estate company in the district and its two directors for alleged irregularities in procuring 300 acres of land of tribals in Kunkuni village during 2009-15, an official said today.
"Saptarishi Infra Tech Estate, its two directors Santosh Gautam and Manish Bansaiyya and other (land) buyers, were booked last evening on the charges of forgery and benami property transactions in Kunkuni village under Kharsia police station limits of the district," Kharsia Station House Officer (SHO) KL Nand said.
The case was registered on the basis of a report filed by the Kharasia Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Durgesh Verma on April 10, he said.

"As per the SDM's report, the company and its directors had procured around 300 acres of the land from 14 tribals in Kunkuni village through forged documents as part of a conspiracy, between 2009 and 2015," Nand said, adding that district Collector had formed a committee to probe the benami sale of land in the area in 2015.
The company and its two Bilaspur-based partners Gautam and Bansaiyya were booked, along with others, under sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security or a will), 471 (using a forged document as genuine) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and as per provisions of Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, the SHO said, adding that further probe is on.

He said that police have yet to make any arrest in connection with the case.

No official of the company could be contacted for reaction.
Last year, a tribal farmer, identified as Jailal Rathiya, had filed a petition in the Chhattisgarh High Court in connection with the 'scam'.
However, he died allegedly in suspicious conditions in March this year, following which the opposition Congress demanded a high level-probe into the matter.
The state unit Congress president Bhupesh Baghel and the Congress MLA from Kharsia seat Umesh Patel had raised the issue in the state Assembly and demanded a probe into the alleged benamisale and purchase of tribals' land inKunkuni.