Land grab: Pong Dam oustees get FIRs filed in Rajasthan

Rajiv Mahajan

NURPUR, OCTOBER 18

Three Pong Dam oustees from Nurpur got forgery cases registered against the alleged land grabbers in Jaisalmer district in Rajasthan where they had been allotted lands.

After losing their lands that had been sold allegedly by Rajinder Kumar of Anoopgarh (Rajasthan) by using fake power of attorneys during the pandemic, they had tried to register forgery cases against all those involved in land grabbing in local Nokh police station in Jaisalmer district (Rajasthan), but in vain.

Following the order of a court, the Nokh police registered three FIRs under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120 (B) on October 11. The cases were registered against the mastermind, three land buyers Assu Singh, Bhakhar Singh and Umedh Singh of Bharmsar (Pokhran) and Mahavir and Munshi Ram, the local labourers, who had been hired by the complainants for cultivating their lands. Each victim had been allotted 6.25 hectares land in Nachan of Jaisalmer district. They had got ownership rights of their land after two decades and were cultivating it through hired labour.

The plight of the oustees Gorkhi Ram of Bhugnara, Prakash Chand of Talara and Baldev Raj of Sukhar in Nurpur had been highlighted in these columns on September 27 in which they had sought the intervention of the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, seeking the lands grabbed by the mafia.

They told The Tribune that after getting no support from the state government and Rajasthan’s local administration, they had moved an application under Section 156(3) of the CrPC in a Pokhran court, seeking police action against the grabbers.

Hans Raj Chowdhary, president of the Pong Dam Oustees’ Samiti, said the mastermind had made forged power of attorneys on behalf of the oustees by using their Aadhaar cards and got these attested from a notary public in Sriganganagar.

“The notary public, whose stamps, name and signatures were used, had died many years ago. By using these, he first got the lands transferred in his favour in August and further sold to the locals within one week,” he said.