Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR/UDHAMPUR, Mar 16: A Special Anti-Corruption Court in Srinagar has convicted a former revenue official in a bribery case, while the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has filed a charge-sheet against another Patwari in a separate corruption case in Udhampur district.
According to officials, the Special Judge Anti-Corruption Court Srinagar convicted Bashir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Kulgam, in a bribery case registered in 2012.
They said the accused, who was then serving as Girdawar, was found guilty of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 from a complainant for providing land Intikhabs related to land measuring 36 kanals and 12 marlas.
Acting on a complaint filed on February 9, 2012, officials said, the then Vigilance Organisation Kashmir laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while accepting the bribe. After investigation, the case was chargesheeted in 2013, they said.
The court has now sentenced the accused to two years of simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs 10,000 under the Prevention of Corruption Act and one year of simple imprisonment with a fine of Rs 5,000 under the RPC.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Bureau Udhampur-Reasi has filed a charge-sheet before the Special Judge Anti-Corruption Court Udhampur against Mohammad Saleem Banday, then Patwari Halqa Mand Tikri, in connection with alleged irregularities in attestation of a land mutation.
Officials said the investigation revealed that the accused, along with a Naib Tehsildar and beneficiaries, had allegedly misused official position to confer ownership rights in violation of provisions of the J&K Agrarian Reforms Act.
They said Section 6 of the Act applies only to dwelling houses occupied by a tiller, but the mutation was attested in favour of beneficiaries for shops, which was not permissible under the law.
Officials further said that the accused is presently in judicial custody in connection with a separate trap case registered earlier this year by the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
Another corruption case registered against him in 2013 is also under investigation, they said.
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