Hazaribag: The Hazaribag administration has initiated proceedings to reclaim a prime parcel of govt land in Dipugarha locality here and attach the palatial bungalow constructed on it by treasury scam accused Shambhu Kumar, officials said on Friday.Kumar, a constable and alleged mastermind of the Rs 28 crore scam constructed the house on ‘khas mahal’ land. The office of deputy collector has issued a notice to BJP worker Shiv Prasad Mehta two days ago, who allegedly acted as middleman in selling the plot to Shambhu in violation of govt rules.An official said, “The administration is now moving to take possession of the property and convert it into govt asset. Revenue records show that the plot falls under khata no. 175, plot nos. 252/677 and 252/678 measuring around 0.2725 acres, was originally leased in favour of Ameera Bano, wife of Syed Bakar Mehdi, with validity up to March 31, 2038, as per lease register-II.”However, preliminary findings indicated that the leasehold was subsequently transferred to Kumar through an agreement for sale, allegedly without prior approval of the competent authority and without any formal application for transfer of lease. Authorities have also flagged that the transaction may have been facilitated on the basis of an affidavit purportedly furnished by Bano, raising questions over violation of prescribed norms in the transfer of govt lease land.Additional collector Santosh Singh said, “This appears to be a clear case of violation of norms in the sale of land. Without obtaining permission and following the rules, the land was transferred to Kumar. We have taken the final decision to start the process for reclaiming the land.”
