Compensation scam in Bharatmala Project: Cash, silver and important documents seized in ED raid

Raipur. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday took major action in the compensation scam case in land acquisition for Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Economic Corridor under Bharatmala Project in Chhattisgarh. ED has seized huge amount of cash, silver and important documents in raids conducted at more than eight locations in Raipur, Abhanpur, Dhamtari and Kurud.

According to the Raipur regional office of the Enforcement Directorate, in this action taken on April 27 and 28, the premises of land businessman Gopal Gandhi, former minister and senior MLA Ajay Chandrakar’s cousin Bhupendra Chandrakar and rice miller Roshan Chandrakar were raided. During the raid, an FIR was also registered against their family members on the charges of misbehavior with the officials.

According to ED, around Rs 66.9 lakh in cash and more than 37 kg of silver were recovered during the raid. Apart from this, many digital devices and important documents have also been seized. This action has been initiated on the basis of the FIR of ACB/EOW.

According to the Enforcement Directorate, on Tuesday, under Section 17 of PMLA 2002, a search operation was conducted at 8 locations located in Abhanpur, Raipur, Dhamtari and Kurud of Chhattisgarh. This search operation was conducted in a case of illegally receiving compensation in lieu of land acquisition for the Raipur-Vishakhapatnam Highway Project under the Bharatmala Scheme.

The ED investigation revealed that the accused fraudulently obtained additional compensation by entering into a criminal conspiracy with some government employees and other persons. He did this even after notification under Section 3A of the National Highways Act, 1956 had been issued by NHAI, Raipur.

Despite this he knowingly transferred the ownership of the land. Also, even before the notification was issued under Section 3D, many small pieces of land were made. Nirbhay Sahu, the then former Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) of Abhanpur, is being considered the mastermind of this scam.

He is accused of getting compensation worth crores of rupees to ineligible people by tampering with government records. The role of Patwari and other tehsil employees, who helped in changing the nature of the land after the notification, is also being investigated.

Bhupendra Chandrakar and Roshan Chandrakar are accused of making a deal with the officials on the basis of advance information about land on the side of the highway and later collecting huge compensation fraudulently.

Investigation revealed that extremely vicious methods were adopted to grab the compensation. When it was decided through which land the road would pass, that agricultural land was shown as ‘diverted land’ (commercial or residential) on paper overnight, so that the compensation amount increased manifold.

Compensation for vacant land was low, so the papers showed wells, trees or construction work (like sheds) on it so that extra money could be recovered. Instead of one big plot, it was shown in small pieces and given to different families, thereby increasing the ‘solitium’ (additional benefit on compensation).

This case was earlier registered by Chhattisgarh’s Economic Offenses Wing and ACB. Since the case involves corruption and money laundering of more than Rs 100 crore, the ED initiated its investigation under the ‘Prevention of Money Laundering Act’ (PMLA).