Uttarakhand: ED raids in NH 74 scam case, action taken at houses of several officers in Kashipur Rudrapur

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the NH 74 scam case. Action was taken at the houses of many officers in Dehradun, Kashipur, Rudrapur. ED has taken action against many officers earlier also. On Thursday, ED took major action in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh and raided many places. This action was taken at the locations of Provincial Civil Service (PCS) officer and people associated with him.

The officer is currently posted as Executive Director in Doiwala Sugar Mill run by the Uttarakhand government. ED conducted this raid at at least seven locations in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The raids were conducted regarding the alleged corruption in the land acquisition process done for the widening of NH-74 and NH-125.

According to ED, when the officer was working as the competent authority for land acquisition, he changed the nature of the acquired land by passing an order on the previous date. This caused a loss of about Rs 162.5 crore to the government. It is alleged that he declared agricultural land as non-agricultural and released more compensation amount.

Case registered by Uttarakhand Police in 2017
The case stems from an FIR and subsequent chargesheet filed by the Uttarakhand Police in 2017. The investigation found that the PCS officer, along with some other public servants, revenue officials, farmers and middlemen had conspired to misuse government funds. They committed this scam on the basis of backdated orders passed under Section 143 of the Uttar Pradesh Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act, 1950.

The ED had issued a statement in the case in 2020 and informed that the compensation given at the non-agricultural rate was much higher than the agricultural rate. Under this investigation, a chargesheet has also been filed against Singh and some others in 2024.