Books AHD employee in DA case
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 20: The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed a chargesheet against fourteen accused, including eleven officials of Srinagar Municipal Committee (SMC), one Revenue official, and two private beneficiaries, in a case related to illegal building permission and encroachment of State land at Barthana, Qamarwari.
The anti-corruption agency has also booked an employee of the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) for having income disproportionate to his known sources of income.
An ACB official said the illegal building permission case was registered in 2019 after allegations surfaced that SMC officers, in connivance with Revenue authorities, fraudulently issued a building permit in the name of Ghulam Qadir Sofi, who had died in 2008.
He said his son, Mohammad Arif Sofi, allegedly misused the permission to raise a commercial complex by violating approved drawings and also encroached adjoining State land using manipulated revenue records, with the support of officials.
“ACB’s investigation established criminal conspiracy, abuse of position, and conferring of undue benefit to private individuals,” he said.
Accordingly, the ACB official said, after obtaining prosecution sanction from the Government, the chargesheet was filed before the Court of Special Anti-Corruption Judge Srinagar.
According to him, the case has been listed for next hearing on October 7, 2025.
Meanwhile, another ACB official said that AHD employee Mushtaq Ahmad Dar has been booked in case FIR number 15/2025 under the Prevention of Corruption Act at ACB Srinagar after a verification revealed that he had accumulated property worth crores of rupees, including two palatial houses at Gassu Batapora Hazratbal, a three-storey shop in the main market, large chunks of land in Gassu Batapora and Hadoora, and a luxury car.
“The assets and expenditures far exceeded his legitimate earnings,” he said.
Searches were also carried out at three of Dar’s residential premises in the presence of Executive Magistrates after securing warrants from the court, he said.
According to the ACB official, further investigation into the case is underway.
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