SRINAGAR: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jammu & Kashmir has registered a case against Kashmiri separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a senior serving bureaucrat, and five others for allegedly encroaching on Custodian land in Srinagar with the assistance of revenue officials.

The ACB registered a First Information Report (FIR) following a preliminary enquiry found the officers and officials of Custodian Department in league with the officials of Revenue Department and beneficiary allottees, dishonestly and fraudulently by resorting to corrupt practices made allotments of evacuee land in violation to the prevailing rules & norms.

The preliminary enquiry was conducted into the allegations that Dil Rafiqa of Hazratbal was unlawfully granted evacuee land by the Custodian Department without proper government sanction and an open auction, violating established provisions.

The FIR states that land belonging to Imam-u-Din, located at Saderbal Hazratbal under survey number 640, was allocated to several individuals, including Dil Rafiqa, in gross violation of rules. The illegal allotment involved 07 Kanal 19 Marlas 97 sqft of land, encroached upon by individuals including the lady, Majid Khalil Ahmad Drabu of Qamarwari Srinagar, Mohammad Amin Khan, Abdul Majeed Bhat - both residents of Saderbal Srinagar, Qazi Bilal Ahmad, and Umer Farooq of Nageen Srinagar.

While Umer Farooq is chairman of Hurriyat Conference, Majeed Bhat is an IAS officer currently serving as Control Legal Metrology, J&K

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) was registered at Police Station ACB Srinagar, with the investigation assigned to a Deputy SP rank officer.