ACB Books Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, IAS Officer Among Seven For Alleged Custodian Land Encroachment

SRINAGAR, MAY 21: The Anti-graft body of Jammu & Kashmir Police has booked Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and a serving senior bureaucrat among seven people for allegedly encroaching Custodian land in convenience with revenue officials in summer capital Srinagar.

According to an FIR copy accessed by Srinagar-based news gathering agency Kashmir Dot Com a preliminary enquiry of Anti-Corruption Bureau (PE No.22/2019) revealed that a lady Dil Rafiqa, was “unlawfully granted evacuee land by the Custodian Department without proper government sanction and an open auction, violating established provisions.”

“The enquiry uncovered that land belonging to Sh. Imam-u-Din, located at Saderbal Hazratbal under survey number 640, was allocated to several individuals, including Dil Rafiga, in gross violation of rules,” reads the FIR.

“The illegal allotment involved 07 Kanal 19 Marlas 97 sqft of land, encroached upon individuals including a lady (name with held) W/o Dr. Ab. Majeed R/o Hazratbal, Srinagar, Majid Khalil Ahmad Drabu S/o Saif-Ud-Din Ahmad Drabu R/o Qammerwari, Srinagar, Mohd. Amin Khan S/o Gh. Nabi Khan R/o Saderbal, Srinagar, Ab. Majeed Bhat S/o Mohd Abdullah Bhat R/o Saderbal, Srinagar, Qazi Bilal Ahmad S/o Qazi Noor Din R/o Nageen, Srinagar and Umer Faroog S/o Lt. Mohammad Faroog R/o Nageen, Srinagar.”

According to FIR “The investigation revealed that officers and officials from the Custodian and Revenue Departments colluded with the beneficiaries, engaging in corrupt practices and abusing their positions. They dishonestly allocated evacuee land, ignoring prevailing rules, and failed to act against the encroachers, resulting in undue benefits for themselves and the beneficiaries, causing a significant loss to the state exchequer.”

“These actions constitute offenses under section 5(1)(d) read with section 5(2) of the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act, Sv. 2006, and section 120B RPC. Consequently, a case (FIR No. 10/2024) has been registered at P/S ACB Srinagar, with the investigation assigned to a DySP rank officer,” reads the FIR according to KDC.

Pertinently, Majeed is a senior bureaucrat (IAS) currently serving as Control Legal Metrology, J&K while Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is the chairman of now banned Hurriyat conference.

If the charges are proven against the accused, the land and house in which Mirwaiz Umar is living shall be confiscated. Custodian lands are the properties belonging to those people who have migrated to Pakistan after partition.