Govt land worth hundreds of crore sold to private persons: CBI

The CBI has registered two separate FIRs in connection with the transfer of about 30 acres of prime government land, worth hundreds of crore, in South Delhi's posh Saket area to private individuals through alleged tampering of records, officials said.
The cases relate to the alleged transfer of gram sabha land, under the control of the Delhi Government, in Asola village to private individuals in connivance with revenue department officials.
It is alleged that some officials of the revenue department tampered the land records to insert the name of Mahesh as the land owner (Bhumidar) of these government properties, the officials said.

Mahesh later sold these properties to a woman, Raman Mehra, at prices which were alleged to be just a small fraction of the prevailing market rates, they said.
After the scam surfaced, an inquiry was ordered by the office of Lt Governor Anil Baijal, who had recommended a CBI probe into the matter.
"Since, Mahesh is the main beneficiary as he received Rs 1.40 crore from Raman Mehra by selling 10 bighas gram sabha land, he is also responsible for this conspiracy out of the said tampering," the inquiry report said.

The report was cited by Ankita Chakravarty, the then SDM (Saket), in her complaint given to the local police.

"...The said tampering was done after January 30, 2014, and prior to April 24, 2015, (the date of the report of Inderjeet Patwari, a revenue department official, by which Mahesh was first time recognised as Bhumidar fraudulently)," it said.
Mahesh allegedly sold 10 bighas of gram sabha land to Mehra for Rs 1.40 crore, the report said.
Patwari, whose role is under the scanner of authorities, has told the Delhi government inquiry team that his letters sanctioning the no objection certificates and sanctioning the mutation were written by his three private assistants.
The report had said that the role of these three purported assistants cannot be ruled out.

"It is requested that an FIR may be lodged under the relevant sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act for tampering with government records by revenue officials in connivance with private persons," it had said.