In a significant crackdown, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested Anil Shankar Dabhode, a city survey officer from Goregaon, in connection with the massive coastal land scam involving manipulation of CRZ and NDZ records to facilitate illegal construction along Mumbai’s shoreline.
Dabhode, 42, was in charge of record rooms and land maps during his tenure at the Goregaon city survey office (2018–2021). He was arrested on Thursday for allegedly altering property records to benefit developers. He was remanded to police custody until April 1.
The scam, first exposed in 2016 by Vaibhav Thakur, a farmer from Malad, involved tampering of official records to convert eco-sensitive land into developable plots. Despite early complaints, action was delayed until Thakur petitioned the Bombay High Court in 2023, resulting in the formation of an SIT.
Dabhode’s arrest is the eighth in the ongoing probe. He follows Sambhuraj Vabhale, another city survey officer who, though initially the complainant, was arrested in March after evidence showed he signed 22 forged maps and provided fake copies of land survey documents.
Forged NOCs and 7/12 extracts used to show illegal constructions as pre-1964 structures
165 maps found to be tampered with by officials, agents, and developers
Fraud enabled circumvention of BMC rules, as structures built before 1964 are protected from demolition
Maps falsely depicted structures in Malad West and Madh as existing prior to cut-off dates
A network involving peons, agents, landowners, and contractors—including Devdas Jadhav, Sama Marade, Narshim Pattawallu, Shaikh Imam—has already been dismantled through earlier arrests in late 2024.
Authorities are also investigating the role of former assistant municipal commissioners (AMCs) from the P-North, P-South, R-South, and R-Central wards, per statements made by Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule in the Legislative Assembly.
