HPCA chief Anurag Thakur, brother booked in land scam

Dharamsala/Shimla: Tightening its noose on BJP MP Anurag Thakur and his brother Arun Singh, both sons of former chief minister PK Dhumal, Vigilance and Anti Corruption Bureau today booked them for alleged cheating and conspiracy in a land case. The two were booked under various sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act, ADGP, Vigilance, S R Mardi said. The ACB also slapped a case on Thakur, who also heads Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association, under different sections of the IPC and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act for alleged cheating, conspiracy, encroachment on government land and demolition of residential houses of education department for construction of cricket stadium. [caption id=“attachment_1151179” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The charges claim the Dharamsala stadium was built on encroached land. Getty Images[/caption] Commenting on the development, Thakur said, “This is political vendetta to malign me and HPCA and tarnish my image. If Virbhadra Singh thinks that by registering two more FIRS, they (Congress) can win Lok Sabha elections, then he can go ahead with it. We will fight the case and vindicate our position.” In the FIR in the land deal, Thakur and Arun Singh have been accused of “forging documents” in connivance with some revenue officials for purchasing the land of a Dalit, Premu (now deceased), Mardi said. “During inquiry by the vigilance bureau, some illegalities were detected in the purchase of the land, which could not be sold before 20 years and it was found that at the time of sale, the owner was in possession of land measuring 32 marlas (592 sq mts) for fourteen years and six months only. “All this could not have happened without the complicity of revenue officers, who have also been booked,” SP, Vigilance at Dharamshala, Bimal Gupta said. The land was purchased by the two bothers even before completion of 15 years and Premu, who very well knew that his wife was also a share holder in the land, himself finalised the deal and also got the records forged, Gupta said. The land was allotted to Premu at Kalapul near Dharamsala in 1992 and mutation was done in 1993 and as per the land laws, it could not be sold before 20 years, he said. In the second FIR, the vigilance accused HPCA for encroachment on 720 square meters of government land for construction of the cricket stadium at Dharamshala. “It is alleged in the FIR that the land belonged to education department on which residential quarters were constructed and this portion was not given to HPCA in the lease deed but HPCA encroached on the land and the houses were razed,” he said. The cricket body, initially registered as a society under the Himachal Coop Societies (Registration) Act and later turned into a company in 2012, is already facing FIR relating to irregularities in construction of international cricket stadium at Dharamshala and five-star hotel ‘The Pavilion’. Meanwhile, Registrar Cooperative R D Nazeem today granted more time to the HPCA for arguments in support of its reply submitted on September 30 wherein the cricket body had challenged the jurisdiction of the Registrar to send show cause notice to the cricket body and claimed it was not a Society under Societies Act but a company registered under Companies Act. HPCA has also maintained that the show cause notice served by the Registrar(Societies) was not maintainable. It had also approached the High Court, which disposed of the petition asking the HPCA to raise the issue of jurisdiction before the Registrar. PTI