The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Raipur Zonal Office, conducted searches at ten locations in Raipur and Mahasamund in the state of Chhattisgarh on December 29 under PMLA, 2002. Searches were conducted at the residential and official places of Harmeet Singh Khanuja and others in connection with the illegal compensation received in land acquisition for Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Highway Project under Bharatmala Yojana.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIR registered by ACB/EOW, Raipur against Nirbhay Sahu, then SDO (Revenue), Abhanpur, Raipur and others under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Indian Penal Code, 1860.
The FIR alleges that the accused, in connivance with government officials, obtained illegal compensation by manipulating official records in land acquisition for the Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Highway Project.
The ED investigation revealed that the accused entered into a criminal conspiracy with some government employees and fraudulently obtained additional compensation for the land acquired under the Bharatmala Project by deliberately dividing large portions of land into smaller pieces among family members and making backdated entries.
This artificial division of land was done before land acquisition to show multiple small farms, thereby taking advantage of the compensation framework to claim higher compensation.
Revenue records were manipulated in such a way that these divisions occurred before the acquisition process, leading to inflated illegal compensation amounts being sanctioned and distributed. The additional illegal compensation so received was the proceeds of crime. This caused wrongful loss to the public exchequer and related illegal gains to the accused.
During the search operation, Rs 40 lakh in cash, digital devices and various incriminating documents were seized. Also, during the search operation several movable and immovable properties acquired in the name of persons involved in POC arising out of commission of scheduled crimes were identified. At present, further investigation is going on in the matter.
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