Dhanbad

Dhanbad : After the directive of Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner, an FIR has been registered with Dhansar Police on Saturday evening, in connection with alleged scam of land compensation.

The District Land Acquisition Officer, Narayan Vigyan Prabhakar in his formal complaint to police alleged that as many as 25 people were found indulged in duping crores of compensation amount allotted for the tribal people of Dhokra whose lands were acquired for construction of Ring road.

According to the complaint of land owner Ganesh Murmu, a person Vipin Kumar Rao who has his account number 200299 with Jorapokhar unit of PACS (Poorest Areas Civil Society), portrayed himself to be a staff of the land acquisition department and got his (Ganesh Murmu) signature on a plain paper.

Vipin then deposited two cheques of amount Rs. 45,36,000 and Rs. 63,70,000 in his own account and withdrew it. Murmu was given rupees 90,000 only as compensation for his land.

Similarly many more tribal families of Dhokra area have been duped by middle men. According to local residents of Dhokra area, the scam is about 100 crores.

District Land Acquisition Officer, Prabhakar while talking to City Live said “we are in the middle of our investigation and the number of accused and victims might go up. I feel, there is a strong nexus between the middlemen and PACS authorities”.

“A two member team from the tribal commission would be arriving on 21st April for further investigation. They will visit Dhokra and talk to the victims and their families too” added Prabhakar.

Tribes of Dhokra whose lands have been acquired are feeling cheated and are expecting the district administration to take strict action and recover the compensation amount.

Chandu Soren, a villager, whose one acre land was acquired for the ring road, got cheated by his own nephew, Dashrath Manjhi. A cheque of 30 lakhs which was meant for him was encashed by Manjhi without his (Chandu Soren) consent. “I have filed a case in Dhanbad court against my nephew. Let’s see what happens” said Soren.