‘Roshni Scam’ is subjudice, raid after 12 years surprises me: Mehboob Iqbal
Jammu, July 16, : Expressing surprise over the CBI raid at his Jammu based house, former Divisional Commissioner and National Conference leader Mehboob Iqbal Friday said that he doesn’t know why his house was raided after the lapse of 12 years.
“Don’t know what’s going on and why my house was raided in my absence. How can I keep ‘Roshni’ related documents at my home?. This is simply….I don’t know what to say,” Mehboob Iqbal told news agency Kashmir News Trust over phone.
Earlier, a team of Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) raided the Greater Kailash Jammu based house ‘Nasheen’ of Mehboob Iqbal on Friday morning.
Mehboob Iqbal was in Bhadarwah at the time of raid.
While talking about the riad, Iqbal said that it was related to ‘Roshni Scam’- 2009. “I have learnt that the team has found Income Tax Returns documents which are public documents. If they have found anything objectionable, they will of course share it with media,” he said.
Mehboob Iqbal told KNT that the matter pertaining to riad is not only subjudice but 12 years old. “Why land granted under Roshni Act in Kashmir is only questioned and debated. The ownership of land comprising thousands of kanals under Roshni Act had been transferred in Jammu as well ,” he said.
Pertinently, the then State Vigilance Organization and now Anti-Corruption Bureau had registered a case against senior officials of the government in 2009 for allegedly misusing official position for illegal transfer of government land in Gulmarg worth crores of rupees by allegedly misusing provisions of the J&K State Land, (Vesting of Ownership Rights to the Occupants) Act, 2001, also known as Roshni Act.
The case is still in the court and was transferred to Central Bureau of Investigation which booked 17 persons, including senior revenue department officials besides top bureaucrats.
Among those named in the FIR are the then Divisional Commissioner (Kashmir) Mahboob Iqbal; former District Collector Nasir Khan; the then Chief Executive Officer of the Gulmarg Development Authority Farooq Ahmed Lone and others.
It is alleged that the officials conspired with ineligible applicants to award them ownership of land in Gulmarg Estate without following proper procedures. The scam is said to be worth Rs 25,000 crore.
Meanwhile, CBI issued a statement in this regard saying that it conducted searches at nine places in Srinagar, Jammu including at the premises of two former Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir; then Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar; then Assistant Commissioner, Nazool, Srinagar and then Tehsildar, Nazool, Srinagar and the accused(private person/beneficiary) in an on-going investigation of a case.
The statement said that the searches conducted so far, incriminating documents including conferment of ownership rights, documents pertaining to several immovable properties located at Srinagar, Jammu, New Delhi; fixed deposits of more than Rs.25 lakh; cash of Rs.2 lakh (approx); keys of 6 bank lockers and a number of bank accounts have been unearthed.
“CBI had registered a case (Roshni Scam) on the directions of Hon’ble High Court of J&K. It was alleged that ownership rights of state land measuring around 7 Kanals 7 Marlas situated at prime location in Srinagar, were conferred arbitrarily on an ineligible applicant at a throw away price, thereby causing huge loss to the State exchequer. It was further alleged that the land category was also arbitrarily changed by the then public servants who were members of Price Fixation Committee (PFC).” (KNT)
