Another accused in Rs 126 crore land scam in YEIDA arrested
Greater Noida: In another major breakthrough in alleged land scam worth Rs 126 crore at Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), the Gautam Buddh Nagar police, on Thursday, arrested one more accused who was the director of one of the companies formed to acquire land for building roads to link Yamuna Expressway.
According to the police, the accused has been identified as Ramesh Bansal, director of Data Infrastructure Pvt limited. Police officials said that seven fake companies were formed by main accused and then CEO of YEIDA PC Gupta along with his nephew, wife and relatives. These companies first acquired 57.17 hectare land from farmers at cheaper prices and then YEIDA bought the land at an inflated price in Mathura that actually had no utility.
"Acting on a tip-off that Bansal would be visiting his residence in sector 44 of Noida, police conducted raid and nabbed the accused from his residence at around 7:30 am," said Nishank Sharma, Circle Officer-1, Greater Noida.
The officer further said that the accused was on run for past six months since the matter came to light after the Chairman of YEIDA ordered a probe into the matter.
"The accused has been arrested and booked under section 420 (Cheating) and other relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He will be presented before the court and thereafter taken on police remand for interrogation to collect more information about the scam," added Sharma.
The matter came to light in June this year when Dr Prabhat Kumar ordered a probe into the matter based on a complaint. Police also registered a case against 21 persons including IAS PC Gupta on June 3 when irregularities were found in the probe and directions were issued by the Chairman and former Commissioner.
Gupta has already been arrested by police from Datiya district of Madhya Pradesh. After Thursday's arrest, 19 persons involved in the case are still on the run.
Meanwhile, Arun Veer Singh, the CEO of YEIDA, said that the Authority will be issuing recovery notices to the accused.
