Summary:
Greater Noida: As many as 11 former Yamuna Authority officials, including ex-CEO PC Gupta, and 13 other people and entities common to the Rs 126 crore land scam, have been booked in another land fraud. When the land was purchased in 2014, it was not even covered under the draft master plan. “YEIDA has not taken the land in its possession nor has the land been demarcated on the mentioned spots, which make it clear that the acquisition was pre-planned,” it says.The FIR adds: “The land is not symmetrical and is scattered. Like in the previous scam, payments were made in the cheques of Rs 30 lakh each as agreed by the then YEIDA CEO Gupta as any transaction over Rs 30 lakh would have to be showed to the IT department, according to the FIR.The report notes that YEIDA spent a total of Rs 16 crore for the purchase of the land which comes out to be around Rs 24 crore currently. Several others involved in the previous scam are also behind bars.The latest scam — which had been orchestrated by the “PC Gupta gang” in a modus operandi similar to the previous land fraud case — was unearthed after current YEIDA chairman Prabhat Kumar initiated an inquiry into the purchase deals of 14.49 hectares in Midhawali village of Hathras district in 2014.Following the inquiry by GM (planning) of YEIDA, the Kasna police station has recently lodged an FIR against as many as 24 accused persons/entities out of which, many names figure in the Rs 126 crore land scam case..