Chhattisgarh Bharatmala land scam: Key fugitive govt officer Nirbhay Sahu, arrested

RAIPUR: In a major breakthrough in the Bharatmala land compensation scam, the Economic Offences Wing/Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested key accused at large Nirbhay Kumar Sahu, the former sub-divisional officer and competent authority for land acquisition in Abhanpur, Raipur district.Investigators alleged that Sahu, while serving as the competent authority for land acquisition at Abhanpur, misused his official position and entered into a criminal conspiracy with subordinate revenue staff, including a patwari and revenue inspector, as well as land dealer Harmeet Singh Khanuja, Uma Tiwari and others.ACB/ EOW chief Amresh Mishra in a statement said that Sahu is an accused in crime registered under IPC sections 409, 467, 468, 471, 420 and 120B, along with Sections 7(c) and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, in connection with alleged irregularities in compensation disbursal for the Raipur-Visakhapatnam and Durg bypass stretches of the Bharatmala road project.

According to the probe, land parcels affected by the project in villages Nayakbandha, Ugetra, Urla, Bhelwadih and Tokaro under Abhanpur tehsil were allegedly split into multiple sub-plots using backdated entries, enabling compensation to be paid at amounts several times higher than the actual entitlement.The agency has also alleged that land earlier acquired for the Nayakbandha reservoir was shown as acquired again for the Bharatmala project and compensation was paid afresh, causing a loss of crores of rupees to the state exchequer.

Officials said Sahu had been on the run for a long time and efforts to trace him were continuing. His anticipatory legal relief had also narrowed earlier, with his bail plea having been rejected by the Supreme Court. Permanent arrest warrants and proclamation orders had already been issued against him and other absconding public servants by the special court.Following his arrest, the agency produced Sahu before the special court in Raipur and secured police remand from March 17 to March 30 for further questioning.