Roshni scam: CBI searches premises of 3 IAS officers, others in Jammu, Srinagar

The CBI on Friday conducted searches at nine locations in Srinagar and Jammu at the premises of three IAS officers, a politician and other officials in connection with the Roshni scam, officials said here.

The searches were spread across the premises of former divisional commissioner, Kashmir Basharat Ahmad Dar (a 1989-batch IAS officer), Mehboob Iqbal (a 1990-batch IAS officer), (former??) Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar Ejaz Iqbal (a 1995-batch IAS officer) and politician Sajjad Parvez, they added.

The case pertains to ownership rights given to alleged encroachers on government land, which is also known as the Roshni scam, the officials said.

Premises linked to other officials, including former assistant commissioner, Nazool, Srinagar and former tehsildar, Nazool, Srinagar were also searched.

''During the searches conducted so far, incriminating documents including conferment of ownership rights, documents pertaining to several immovable properties located at Srinagar, Jammu, New Delhi, fixed deposits of more than Rs 25 lakh, cash of Rs 2 lakh (approximately), keys of six bank lockers and a number of bank accounts have been unearthed,'' CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

The central agency had taken over the investigation into the Roshni scam on the orders of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

''It was alleged that the ownership rights of state land measuring around 7 Kanals 7 Marlas situated at a prime location in Srinagar were conferred arbitrarily on an ineligible applicant at a throwaway price, thereby causing a huge loss to the state exchequer. It was further alleged that the land category was also arbitrarily changed by the then public servants, who were members of the Price Fixation Committee (PFC),'' Joshi said.

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