The state wakf board’s chairman has been on the run since February, when the CID took up the case wherein he is accused of selling the board's land worth Rs90 crore for Rs1 crore.
The state wakf board’s chairman has been on the run since February, when the CID took up the case wherein he is accused of selling the board's land worth Rs90 crore for Rs1 crore. Besides the chairman R Abdul Reyaz Khan, a few members of the wakf board are accused of conspiracy.
The land in question measures 2.3 acres and is next to Lalbagh botanical garden. It belongs to Muslim charitable institution Dargah Ataullah Shah. The wakf board's chairman, in collusion with others, ‘sold’ the land to one H Bhavarilal for Rs1 crore in 2008, when its market price was about Rs90 crore.
In 2000, Bhavarilal and Hopcoms had approached the high court, claiming ownership of the land. The HC had ruled that the land belonged the wakf board.
In 2008, the wakf board filed a joint memo in the HC. In it, seven of the 12 members of the board declared that the said land did not belong to the board anymore. Further, the memo stated that the board had taken Rs1 crore as ‘donation’ from Bhavarilal (who had passed away by that time).
The state government had then asked IAS officer Syed Zameer Pasha to look into the issue. He raised objection to the transaction, but resigned in July 2008 when the board ignored his recommendation of taking back the land. Owing to public outcry, the state government had handed over the case to the CID in 2009. The CID held Khan and others guilty of conspiracy.
The government subsequently directed the jurisdictional police—High Grounds police—to look into the case. However, the accused managed to get a stay on the investigation. They recently approached the high court, seeking that the FIR against them be quashed. The HC dismissed the case and revoked the stay order on the investigation. When the police swung into action, the state government directed the police to hand over the case back to the CID for a thorough probe.
Sources in the police department said it appeared that the government had done that to buy time for the accused. Meanwhile, the accused have applied for anticipatory bail in a lower court. The plea would come up for hearing on Saturday.
The High Grounds police officer who was in charge of the investigation refused to comment on the issue, saying that the matter was pending before the CID. Former wakf minister Mumtaz Khan said Khan should emerge from his hiding.
He appears
Even as the city police are on the lookout for the chairman of wakf board, he went to his office on Cunningham Road on Thursday and left after some official work. The office is near High Grounds police station. The wakf board's CEO Mujibulla Zafari confirmed that Khan did come to the office. He said the board had done the best it could by submitting a report to the government and it was up to the government to take action.
Despite repeated attempts, Khan remained unavailable for comments.
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