Shahjahanpur assistant municipal commissioner held in ‘Rs 101-cr land scam’

Bareilly: UP Police has arrested Rajkumar Gupta, currently posted as assistant municipal commissioner in Shahjahanpur Municipal Corporation and a former executive officer (EO) of Sambhal Municipal Council, in connection with the alleged illegal transfer of 38 bigha of govt land worth over Rs 101 crore along the Moradabad-Sambhal highway.Sambhal SP Krishna Kumar Bishnoi said Gupta was detained from his Shahjahanpur office on Wednesday for questioning. After he allegedly failed to provide satisfactory answers, a case was registered at Sambhal Kotwali police station and he was arrested.Police said the investigation found that an attempt was made to transfer the govt land to private individuals through forged documents, alleged collusion among officials and an affidavit filed by Gupta in the Allahabad High Court in 2013 while serving as EO of the municipal council.

The alleged fraud is estimated to have caused a loss of more than Rs 101 crore to the state.Investigators alleged that Gupta played a role in getting a writ petition related to gram sabha land withdrawn while serving as EO, which benefited the accused in the case.So far, 31 people have been named in the FIR. Police are also questioning former municipal council chairman Kausar Ahmad and others linked to the case, including the then district development coordinator, consolidation officials, advocates and land buyers.

Bishnoi said more than half of the govt land has been freed from illegal possession, and efforts are underway to reclaim the remaining land. He added that Gupta, who served as EO of Sambhal Municipal Council for nearly six years, was also named in a Rs 40-lakh embezzlement case registered in 2022. “We will conduct a fresh probe into that case as well,” he said.