Srinagar, Nov 4: ANB; The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered a formal case into the alleged illegal construction of a petrol pump on Kahcharaie (state) land in Arigam area of central Kashmir’s Budgam district. The case, registered under FIR No. 21/2025 at Police Station ACB Srinagar, follows a detailed verification initiated after complaints were received from local residents of the village.
According to the ACB, the inquiry revealed that one Ali Mohammad Khan, son of Sonaullah Khan, resident of Arigam Budgam, had constructed a petrol pump in June 2020 on Kahcharaie land on the strength of a license issued on “manipulated and misleading facts.”
The investigation found that during 2018, NOCs were issued by the then Patwari Arigam, Naib Tehsildar Arigam, and Tehsildar Khansahab for proprietary land under Survey Nos. 531 and 533 Min. However, these officials deliberately concealed that access to the site was possible only through State/Kahcharaie land (Survey No. 535) and failed to disclose that the land was separated from the main road by government property prone to encroachment.
Further scrutiny showed that the concerned Patwari also suppressed the existence of Shamilat land (Survey No. 532) while preparing the Khaka Dasti, thereby misrepresenting the actual site layout. Even after the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Budgam sought clarification in March 2018, the field staff falsely reported the site as suitable for fuel transportation and storage. ACB Said in a Statement issued to News Service Associated News Bureau ANB,
On the basis of these misleading reports, the then Deputy Commissioner Budgam issued Petrol Pump License No. DCB/2020/10 dated May 22, 2020, in favour of the beneficiary for Survey Nos. 531 and 533—plots that were not even adjacent to each other. The then SDM Khansahab also endorsed the proposal without conducting an independent field verification.
The ACB stated that the involved revenue officials, “by abuse of their official positions and in criminal conspiracy with the beneficiary,” facilitated encroachment on state land and conferred undue financial benefit upon the individual.
Consequently, offences under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) and Section 120-B of the IPC have been established against the accused public servants and the private beneficiary.
The Bureau confirmed that further investigation into the case is underway to ascertain the full extent of the conspiracy and identify additional culpable officials. ANB
