Private trust booked for illegal land acquisition

A private trust here has been booked for illegally grabbing land from nine persons and allegedly cheating them of over Rs one crore, a senior administration official said.
"A complaint was received yesterday about the illegal acquisition of land by the trust. Police are investigating into the matter," said Iqbal Singh Sandhu, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Jalandhar-1.
One of the complainants, Devendra Kumar, today told reporters that his land along with that of eight others had been illegally acquired by the private trust, which claimed to have provided compensation for it.
"Officials of the trust came to us and told us that they had purchased our land. They said a cheque of Rs one crore and nine lakh had been given to SDM and we need to contact him for the money.

"On doing so, it was revealed that a cheque on the name of another Devender Kumar had been issued. When Sandhu went on to seal the fake bank accounts, it was found that the money had already been taken out," he claimed.
Alleging that bank officials are also involved, Kumar said Sandhu has assured them that the matter will be throughly probed and their land will be returned to them.
Sandhu said one person has been detained in connection with the case and investigations are on.