ED raids in Maharashtra over Rs 52-crore forest land scam linked to Nizam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted raids at multiple locations in Maharashtra in connection with a land grab case involving the illegal sale of forest land that once belonged to the Nizam of Hyderabad and was later reserved as private forest by the state, officials said.

The searches were carried out at premises linked to JM Mhatre Infrastructure Pvt Ltd in Panvel and Dadar. The case is related to the fraudulent transfer of government-reserved forest land to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), for which the accused allegedly received compensation to the tune of Rs 52 crore.

According to the ED, the land parcels in question were originally owned by the Nizam of Hyderabad. In 1962, these lands were illegally transferred to one Sayyed Mohammad Abdul Hamid Qadri through forged documents. Qadri subsequently sold the land to JM Mhatre.

To curb illegal ownership claims, the Maharashtra government enacted the Maharashtra Private Forests (Acquisition) Act in 1975 and acquired these lands. However, in 2005, Mhatre and Qadri allegedly colluded with revenue officials to manipulate land records through duplicate mutation entries, listing the land under their names.

The central agency's probe is based on an FIR registered by the Range Forest Officer (RFO), Uran, Alibag Division, at Panvel Police Station on September 5, 2023. ED later registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR).

As per the FIR, JM Mhatre illegally transferred 1.86 hectares of land to NHAI and received Rs 42.4 crore in compensation. Qadri transferred 0.4225 hectares and received Rs 9.69 crore.

ED teams carried out searches at two locations in Panvel and one in Dadar, which continued till late evening, aiming to trace the proceeds of the crime and expose the full extent of the alleged land scam.