Srinagar, May 24: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Jammu & Kashmir has registered two cases against Girdawar for accumulating disproportionate assets and for illegal and fraudulent mutation in revenue records. The purchased land measuring 16 kanals was shown as acquired through Hiba Zubani.
Verification by the ACB into allegations of disproportionate assets (DA) accumulated through corrupt practices by Abdul Majid Sheikh, also known as Malla, revealed that he possessed various immovable and movable properties acquired in his name and in the names of his family members, the ACB said in a statement issued here.
Malla, originally Patwari Halqa Matipora Pattan and now Girdawar Qanoongo Circle Nowshera Tehsil Boniyar, accumulated these assets during his tenure. The properties include 5 kanals and 13 marlas in Wahigund, Kunzer (survey No. 04), 3 marlas in Wahigund, Kunzer (survey No. 216/73), 10.05 marlas in Wahigund, Kunzer (survey No. 215/73), 13 marlas in Wahigund, Kunzer (survey No. 91), 1 kanal in Wahigund, Kunzer (in the name of his wife), 4 kanals and 4 marlas in Wahigund, Kunzer, 1 kanal and 10 marlas in Wahigund, Kunzer (in the name of his son, Ishfaq Majid), 13 marlas with a single-storey structure and two shops in Pattan, Baramulla (in the name of his wife) and 3 marlas in Pattan.
The bureau said that further investigation revealed a double-storey house with a plinth area of 600 sq ft at Wahigund, Kunzer, on ancestral land, and significant transactions in various bank accounts. “The assets and expenditures were found disproportionate to his known sources of income, for which he could not provide a satisfactory account. Consequently, FIR No. 07/2024 under Section 5(1)(e) r/w 5(2) of the J&K P.C. Act, Svt 2006, was registered at PS ACB Baramulla, and an investigation was initiated. Searches at his residence led to the recovery and seizure of Rs 3.80 lakh in cash and other incriminating documents,” it said.
During the DA verification, it was found that Malla had fraudulently acquired more than 16 kanals of land using oral gift deeds to evade stamp duty and registration fees, the ACB said, adding that this was done in collusion with revenue officers/officials Bashir Ahmad Reshi, then Patwari Halqa Wailoo, Kralpora; Manzoor Ahmad Khanday, then Patwari Halqa Wailoo Kralpora; and Altaf Hussain Khan, then Naib Tehsildar Wailoo Kralpora.
According to the ACB, these officials illegally entered and altered mutation records to show the land as orally gifted rather than purchased. Specifically, mutation No. 117 was altered to 117/1, and another mutation No. 123 was fraudulently entered, showing 14 kanals and 5 marlas as gifted to Malla and his brother, it added.
The verification revealed that the involved revenue officials abused their positions and conspired with Malla to evade stamp duty and registration charges, causing significant pecuniary gains for themselves and losses to the government. Consequently, a separate FIR No. 08 under Section 5(1)(d) r/w 5(2) J&K PC Act Svt-2006 and Sections 467, 468, 471, and 120-B of the RPC was registered at ACB PS Baramulla against the three revenue officials and Malla, the ACB said, adding that further investigations in both cases are ongoing.
