Former official of Lakes Dev Authority raided by Vigilance

Vigilance sleuths today raided the residential house of a former Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) officer here and claimed to have seized various documents related to purchase of movable and immovable property worth crores of rupees.
This is the fifth case registered by SVO against the officials of LAWDA - set up to preserve the famous water bodies including Dal Lake - in the current year.
The residential house of LAWDA's former Enforcement Officer Shah Sikander Khan at posh Rajbagh locality was raided in the wee hours after a search warrant was obtained from the court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption, Srinagar, a spokesman of the State Vigilance Organisation (SVO) said here.

He said there were allegations that the officer has amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income by resorting to "corrupt practices" and a case under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against him.
"During extensive search of the house, various documents were recovered which pertained to the purchase of immovable property by the accused Enforcement Officer while in active service," the spokesman claimed.
"The accused has constructed a huge shopping complex at Batamaloo in central city. Besides, he has purchased 02 kanals 18 marlas of land at Batamaloo Srinagar. He has also purchased 04 kanals 15 marlas of land at Lolpora Tangmarg along Srinagar-Gulmarg road," he spokesman said.

"The accused was also found in possession of movable property like bank balance, jewellery, bank lockers, cash, electronic goods worth lakhs of rupees," he said.
The SVO has constituted a Special Investigation Team comprising Dy SP Mushtaq Wani, Inspector Murtaza Kirmani and Inspector Showkat Abdullah to look into the allegations of corrupt practices by LAWDA officials.