Uttarakhand: Dehradun registry scam in which documents of 1948 were tampered with, 2000 acres of land was usurped, major revelations made in SIT investigation

As fast as the business of buying and selling of land has grown in Uttarakhand’s capital Dehradun, frauds have also come to light at the same pace. In the fake registry scam that came to light two years ago, the police have so far jailed 20 people, but the revelations being made in the investigation of SIT (Special Investigation Team) are revealing the depth of this entire racket.

According to what has come to light in the investigation so far, the accused hatched a conspiracy to claim fake rights on government and private properties worth crores by preparing fake documents of 2000 acres i.e. 9 crore square feet of land. At the same time, cases have also been filed after hundreds of complaints were received.

False documents of 1948 were tampered with: Fake documents were prepared by removing old records and in this way the game of illegal occupation of land worth lakhs and crores of rupees was played. Not only this, during that time, the father of the accused got the land registered in the name of his minor children in a fraudulent manner and now the children are transferring that land to others. The accused did not do this game alone, rather the game was played in connivance with the handwriting expert and the employees of the Registrar’s office in Saharanpur.

The base for the forgery of the registries was the record of 1948, which was also kept in Saharanpur district of UP. The accused removed the old documents and put new documents there. In this way, the accused tried to show that they were the real owners, while it was not so. There has been forgery of about two thousand acres of land. The rest is still under investigation.

Atul Kumar, Registration Officer

Know the method of fraud: Investigation has revealed that the employees of the Registrar’s office used to remove the original registry and put the fake registry there. Now, looking at the seriousness of this matter, the help of handwriting experts is being taken and a thorough investigation of all the suspicious registries is going on. Investigation has revealed that when the land records of Dehradun were kept in Saharanpur, the accused took advantage of it and easily tampered with the papers. That is, the laxity of the government system and the cleverness of the criminals, both together made this scam flourish.

SIT was formed on the instructions of CM Dhami: After the fake registry case came to light in the year 2023, the SIT was formed on the instructions of CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. Earlier the tenure of the SIT was fixed for November 2023, but in view of the increasing complaints, its tenure was extended till March 2024. However, keeping in mind the complaints of the general public, the tenure of the SIT was extended for the second time till September 2024 and then till February 2025.

SIT received 378 complaints: In its total four tenures, the SIT received 378 complaints yesterday. Out of these, instructions were given to register a case on 97 complaints, out of which 70 cases have been registered so far. The process is in progress on the rest.

Let us tell you that in July 2023, a case of fraud in the registry office came to light in front of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. After this, CM Dhami raided the Dehradun registry office. Where many irregularities came in front of CM Dhami. After this, SIT was formed on the instructions of CM Dhami.

Now the government has ordered that a case should be registered only after a thorough investigation of all suspicious registries, so that no culprit can escape and the innocent is not trapped. IG Garhwal also raised questions on the cases being written without investigation by SIT. Along with this, now all the SSPs and SPs of Garhwal will be directed. Now the victim will be given convenience in the case of land cases.

If any complaint of land fraud comes at the police station level, then it should be investigated by the officers of another police station, it is under consideration. In this regard, the SSP and SP of the district have also been asked to give a report. So that such complaints can be addressed to a great extent.

Rajiv Swaroop, IG Garhwal