In what could be one of the biggest land scams in recent times in Darjeeling, the CID arrested a retired clerk of the District Sub Registrar office, Darjeeling; retired Surveyor of the Sub Divisional Land and Land Reforms Office, Darjeeling and a lady from Siliguri.
They along with others had allegedly conspired and forged land ownership documents to grab a land and facilitate its sale. The land originally belonged to an elderly person hailing from Jorasanko, Kolkata.
61 year old Tejbir Tamang of Lower Toongsoong Road, Darjeeling who used to work as a clerk in the District Sub Registrar office; 64 year old Dorjay Tshering Lepcha, Surveyor, DL&LRO, a resident of DB Giri road, Darjeeling along with 45 year old Chandrika Sharma, a resident of Salbari, Siliguri were arrested on February 6 and produced at the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in Darjeeling the following day.
Charged under Sections 120b (criminal conspiracy) and other sections pertaining to forgery, fraud (468, 471, 483, 477) of the Indian Penal Code they remanded to four days of police custody. They were again produced on Friday. Their bail prayers were rejected by the court and they were sent to judicial custody.
Probodh Chandra Nandy , resident of Marquis Square, Jorasanko, Kolkata had inherited a property in Darjeeling after the death of his mother Pravash Nalini Nandy and father Prafulla Nandy. His mother was the owner of the property. Owing to his age and failing health he had appointed one Tito Tarafdar as attorney to look after the property.
The property measuring 1895 Satak (18.95 acres) called the "Nest" is located 32 Hill Cart Road and Manta Hill around 3km away from Darjeeling town. On August 30, 2016 Tarafdar received information that some unknown persons were putting up wooden fence in the property.
"He rushed to Darjeeling and a visit to the property revealed that one Santi Devi Agarwal of SIliguri had obtained power of attorney from one Pradip Chandra Nandy of 47/1 Rabindra Sarani, Bowbazar, Kolkata who claimed to be the son of Late Prafulla Nandy and thereby the sole owner of the property" stated Achinta Bagchi, Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) in charge, CJM Court, Darjeeling.
Tarafdar then lodged an FIR, Darjeeling Sadar Police station. On November 19, 2016 the case was handed over to the CID.
"Investigation by the CID revealed that the arrested along with land brokers Kamal Sharma and Satya Dev Yadav of SIliguri had forged documents had appointed Santi Devi as attorney of the land who in turn had sold the land to one Geeta Sharma and others.
They then had registered parts of the property in their names and sold of plots of the land to M/s Yashshree Contractors represented by one Sadip Lama who had paid for the land. The sale amount was split among themselves by means of a memorandum of understanding. The MOU has been seized by the CID. Both Tamang and Lepcha were in office them and facilitated the conspiracy. Kamal Sharma, Satya Dev Yadav and Geeta Sharma are absconding. Pradip Nandy is yet to be identified" added the APP in charge.
Investigations revealed that Chandrika Sharma had received Rs. 75 lakhs which she had refused to deposit in her bank account. Sources claim that total transaction amounts to Rs. 2 Crores approximately.
"The accused have been falsely implicated. They were in clerical positions and just discharged their duties. The higher officials should have verified" stated Dipankar Dey, Defence lawyer.
"This is just the tip of the ice berg. Investigations will definitely reveal many more names" said a CID official.