CBI files FIR against ex-J&K minister for alleged forest land grab under Roshni Act

New Delhi: The CBI has booked former Jammu and Kashmir Minister Taj Mohiuddin in connection with alleged illegal regularisation of encroached forest land in his name under the Roshni Act, officials said Thursday.

Along with Mohiuddin, a former Congress minister in the erstwhile state, the agency has also booked Mohammaed Ramzan Thakur, former Deputy Commissioner Shopian, Mohammed Yousuf Zargar, the then Additional Deputy Commissioner, Hafizullah Shah, the then Assistant Commissioner Revenue and Ghulam Hassan Rather, the then Tehsildar.

The CBI received a complaint from the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory which is now part of the FIR, they said.

The then Tehsildar Shopian had processed and placed 190 cases of vesting of ownership rights to the occupants of state land before a committee chaired by Thakur on June 16, 2007.

The committee approved only 17 of them including over 13 kanals of land which was allegedly illegally encroached upon by Mohiuddin. It is alleged that the land encroached upon by Mohiuddin belonged to the forest department which had raised objections to its regularisation under the Jammu and Kashmir State Lands (Vesting of Ownership to Occupants) Act also known as the Roshni

Act.