Chhattisgarh: Couple among four arrested in Bharatmala project compensation scam

Raipur, Apr 26 (PTI) The Chhattisgarh Anti-Corruption Bureau/Economic Offence Wing on Saturday arrested four persons including a couple over alleged frauds in the distribution of compensation for land acquired for a Bharatmala road project in Raipur district between 2020 and 2024.

Kedar Tiwari, his wife Uma, Harmeet Singh Khanuja and Vijay Jain were arrested for allegedly claiming compensation for the acquisition of land owned by other people, an ACB official said.

The action was taken after the agency on Friday conducted raids at 20 properties belonging to 15 people in four districts.

It is alleged that compensation was claimed fraudulently in some cases for the land acquired for Raipur-Visakhapatnam economic corridor.

The Tiwaris allegedly received Rs 2 crore issued in the name of others persons. Similarly, Khanuja and Jain, a businessman, allegedly received compensation against land acquisition while working as aides of Uma Tiwari and misappropriated the moneys due to several farmers, the official said.

The four were produced before special ACB/EOW judge Neeraj Sharma who granted the investigating agency their custody till May 1.

The raids on Friday covered premises of public servants, persons who received compensation and some private persons in Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur and Mahasamund districts, the official said.

As per the investigation, the local authorities also allegedly paid excess compensation to landowners in five villages of Raipur district, causing a loss of Rs 48.03 crore to the exchequer, he said.

The land acquisition award was given on March 18, 2021 (during previous Congress government). Later, complaints were received, following which an administrative probe was launched in 2022.

In some cases, land was partitioned after the issuance of notification (for acquisition), or already acquired land was acquired again. PTI COR TKP KRK

Source: PTI