FIR lodged in Noida hotel land scam

Criminal cases were registered on Thursday against 15 people, including three IAS officers, in the Noida land scam which cost the state exchequer a whopping Rs4,721 crore. The FIR was lodged by the Noida Authority at Sector-20 Police Station.

The accused charged with fraud, corruption and misappropriation include then Noida chairman Rakesh Bahadur, CEO Sanjeev Saran and then additional CEO K Ravindra Nayak. Another IAS officer Devdutt, who was then divisional commissioner, Meerut, has retired. The land was allotted during Mulayam Singh’s chief ministership between 2006 and 2007. It was meant for hotels to be built to cater to the influx in Delhi and National Capital Region for Commonwealth Games 2010.

According to the FIR, the land was given to hoteliers without a tender process at Rs7,400 per square metre when the market rate was a whopping Rs1,69,000 per sq metre.

Under a scheme devised by the Mulayam government, 25 plots in sectors 96, 97 and 98 of Noida were given to 14 hoteliers at commercial rates, while the industrial rates were much higher. About 65 acres of land was thus allotted.

An official spokesman said a total of 16 officers were accused in the case. But since one of them belonged to higher judicial services, the high court’s permission had been sought to lodge an FIR against him.