In a significant development in the ongoing land document fraud investigation, Dahod police have arrested four government officials, including two former in-charge Taluka Development Officers (TDOs), for their alleged involvement in a massive land scam. The arrests were made after the accused issued certificates outside their legal authority, facilitating fraudulent land transactions.
The arrested individuals were identified as C M Bariya and D K Sangada, former in-charge TDOs; assistant TDO B S Amaliyar; and circle officer M K Taviyad. They were remanded to police custody for six days, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to seven. A total of 25 people have been arrested so far, with the police investigation continuing into the land scam.
The accused are linked to a case involving around 200 land survey numbers in the district, where fake property documents were being prepared. Some of the irregularities uncovered include illegal conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural land, transferring tribal land without consent, dubious entries in property cards, and the inclusion of government land in private plots.
The arrested officials are accused of issuing unauthorized certificates for the conversion of non-agricultural land into agricultural land, a process that is outside their jurisdiction. The conversions were done either to expedite procedures or as part of fraudulent activities. In some cases, the number of land conversions exceeded the annual limit allowed.
The police investigation into this large-scale scam continues, and further arrests are expected as the scope of the fraud is expanded. Authorities are focusing on identifying how such conversions were approved without following legal procedures.
