The CBI on Friday conducted simultaneous raids at 52 places in Jharkhand and Bihar in connection with the approximately Rs 1,000 crore Deogarh land scam detected last year, sources in the investigating agency said.
The raids were being carried out in Patna and in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad, Dumka, Sahibganj, Latehar and Deogarh in the premises of former and current officials, who have been posted in Jharkhand’s Deogarh district registry and circle offices, besides middle men, the sources said.
The CBI took over the investigations after initial probe by the Jharkhand Vigilance Bureau in Deogarh land scam.
The vigilance bureau had been entrusted with the investigation last year on a report by the then Deogarh deputy commissioner that 826 acre land was sold using fraud papers worth approximately Rs 1,000 crore in Madhupur, Mohanpur and Deogarh areas in Deoghar district, the sources said.
The entire land was protected under Santhal Pargana Tenancy Act, which protects tribal land, and was marked as non-saleable.
Days before the vigilance probe, crucial papers stored in the control room at the district treasury office were gutted in a fire, the sources said.
The vigilance bureau had arrested three persons soon after the detection of the Deogarh land scam last year.
