On Monday, police announced the arrest of three youths involved in setting fire to the Nazir branch at the collectorate on Saturday. The arrested individuals have been identified as Roop Singh Parihar, Rahul Parihar, and Jitendra Pal. Superintendent of Police Aman Singh Rathore stated that he reviewed CCTV footage immediately following the incident, which showed the trio igniting the fire.
To facilitate the investigation, a 30-member team was assembled, and a reward of Rs 10,000 was offered for information leading to their capture. The police have also filed an FIR regarding irregularities in land acquisition for an irrigation project in Pichhore. This FIR was lodged based on a complaint from Lalit Kumar Sharma, the office superintendent of the collectorate, against Rakesh Kumar Dhodhi, the then withdrawal and disbursement officer, Deepak Khatik, a former assistant in the land records department, and Roop Singh Parihar from the Water Resources Department.
During the investigation, collectorate staff identified two of the arsonists as Roop Singh and Rahul Parihar after reviewing the CCTV footage. It was revealed that Rahul Parihar worked as a computer operator for the Mentana Group, which was involved in the land acquisition case for a lower irrigation project in Pichhore.
Parihar allegedly submitted fake bills to receive Rs 26 lakh instead of the rightful Rs 6 lakh, leading to a separate FIR against him. The police learned that the trio aimed to destroy files related to the land acquisition case.
The files destroyed in the fire were reportedly connected to irregularities in compensating farmers whose land was acquired for the irrigation project. A total of Rs 2,208 crore was sanctioned for this project, which included expenses for land acquisition and related work. However, it was found that compensation funds were transferred to individuals who neither owned land nor houses in the submergence area, raising serious concerns about the integrity of the process.
