Taking major action in the NH-74 highway scam in Dehradun, ED has temporarily attached movable and immovable properties worth Rs 13.89 crore. This action has been taken under PMLA. ED had started its investigation on the basis of the FIR registered in Pantnagar police station. This FIR is related to the alleged scam in land acquisition during widening of NH-74 highway.
The investigation revealed that Dilbag Singh, Jarnail Singh (son of Sunder Singh), Baljeet Kaur (wife of Pratap Singh) and Dalwinder Singh (son of Pratap Singh) in collusion with the revenue officials and middlemen got the back dated orders passed fraudulently. These orders were shown under Section 143 of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act…later they were registered in the revenue records.
Compensation worth crores obtained by showing non-agricultural land
The accused obtained compensation by showing their land as non-agricultural land from agricultural land. Due to this, he got additional compensation of about Rs 26 crore 2 lakh 83 thousand 930. This amount was given from the government treasury to acquire land for highway widening. According to ED, this fraud caused huge loss to the government and huge profit to the accused. ED investigation also revealed that with this alleged illegal earnings, the accused purchased many properties in the name of themselves and their relatives. Some amount was transferred to different bank accounts.
These properties are considered possessions of crime
Now considering these properties as Proceeds of Crime i.e. illegal earnings, property worth about Rs 13.89 crore has been attached. This includes real estate as well as some movable assets. ED has already issued 3 provisional attachment orders in this case. Also, till now 7 charge sheets have been filed in the special PMLA court, Dehradun. At present, investigation is going on in this entire matter and ED can make more revelations in future also.
