NOIDA: The director of a real estate firm linked to a former YEIDA official was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a case related to irregularities in purchasing land in Hathras by the authority over a decade ago.
Police said on Wednesday that Vivek Kumar Jain, director of Himalaya Infraventure Pvt Ltd, was arrested after being interrogated. Jain had founded the company with his friend, who is the brother-in-law of former YEIDA officer on special duty VP Singh.
VP Singh is among the accused named in the case.
The case against Jain was filed in 2019 on a complaint by inspector Gajendra Singh in Beta 2 station. Twenty-nine people, including the then Yamuna Authority CEO PC Gupta, were named in the FIR.
Police have filed charge sheets against 12 of the accused, including two tehsildars, in this case.
The case came to light after assessment of land acquired by YEIDA over the years.
In 2011-2012, the authority had acquired 42 hectares of land from farmers in Hathras. In compensation, YEIDA had to give 7% of developed plots to the farmers. For this, the authority needed 5 hectares of land, but in 2014, officials along with others allegedly conspired and bought 14.4 hectares of land in Hathras’ Midhawali village.
They spent Rs 16.5 crore on purchasing this land and paid an interest of Rs 7.7 crore.
According to the investigation, the land that had to be purchased in Hathras was bought by third parties such as real estate firms, who were working with YEIDA officials, at cheaper rates. The authority then bought this land from the third party at inflated prices.
Apart from the former authority CEO and OSD, the FIR names former additional CEO Satish Kumar, manager Brijesh Kumar and project manager Atul Kumar.
Two tehsildars Ajit Paresh and Chaman Singh, firms ANG Infrastructure and Consultant, Parasol Agritech, and banks — Mahamedha Urban Cooperative Bank and Noida Commercial Bank Limited — are among others linked to the case.
The accused have been booked under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 471 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc.), 420 (cheating) and 218 (public official framing incorrect record or writing).
Police said this scam amounted to a loss of Rs 23.9 crore to the exchequer.
Several accused in this case, including the former authority CEO, were initially booked in another land scam, worth Rs 126 crore.
