FIR against district collector, HDIL officials in land scam

An FIR has been registered against Raigad district collector and real estate developer Housing Development and Infrastructure's (HDIL) chairman and directors in an alleged land scam which caused loss of crores of rupees to the exchequer, Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) said today.

Advocate Anjali Awasti, representing the complainant in the case, said the FIR registered by ACB yesterday named the collector Subhash Sonawane, who was MHADA's acting officer in 2006, HDIL executive chairman Rakesh Kumar Wadhawan and its directors Raj Kumar Agarwal, Satyapal Talwar, Shyam Sunder Dawra, Sunil Behari Mathur, Lalit Mohan Mehta, Surinder Kumar, Ramesh Chandar Kapoor, Warym Singh, and Ashok Kumar Gupta.

The accused allegedly carried out fraudulent practices in order to develop a Maharashtra Housing Area Development Authority (MHADA) plot, located next to adjoining prime property at the Bandra Kurla Complex, under Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme by declaring it as a slum, she claimed.

Awasti claimed that in 2006, the HDIL and MHADA officials had connived and declared a 23,387 sq metre plot in Bharat Nagar as slum area even though it belonged to the MHADA. "As per rule, MHADA plots cannot be developed under SRA scheme. But the accused are doing this to gain huge profits."

The loss due to the fraudulent practises is estimated to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore, she claimed. However, the ACB stated that only a thorough probe would help estimate the actual loss to the exchequer which may run into crores.