October 12, 2025 –
A bombshell dropped in Srinagar this morning when the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) unveiled a massive evacuee land scam, registering FIR No. 19/2025 at its Srinagar station for fraudulent swaps of prime properties worth crores. The probe, kicking off yesterday at 4 PM after tips from the Defence Estates Office, targets officials who allegedly bypassed High Court orders and skipped NOCs to trade custodianship lands – those seized post-1947 Partition from migrants to Pakistan – for private plots without a whisper of approval.
The scam’s guts are ugly: insiders allegedly flipped 10 kanals of downtown Srinagar evacuee land (near Dal Lake, prime for hotels) for lesser-value spots elsewhere, pocketing the difference in a scheme that’s left the state Rs 50 crore short. ACB spokesperson, in a 10 AM statement, laid it bare: “Blatant violations for personal gain; we’re raiding offices today.” By noon, teams hit three locations in Batmaloo and Rajbagh, seizing documents and laptops, with two junior revenue officials in the hot seat.
Word traveled fast to Jammu, where Partition’s ghosts still linger – 1947’s exodus displaced 50,000 Pandits and Muslims alike, leaving evacuee properties as a tangled trust. In Raghunath Bazaar’s old city, Hindu elders like Pandit Rameshwar Sharma, 62, paused their morning aarti around 11 AM to grumble: “Our ancestors’ lands swapped like bazaar goods? This erodes what little we hold.” : “It’s theft from all – fix it before PoK unrest spills more.”
This fraud, the biggest since 2018’s Rs 100 crore revenue scam, ties to yesterday’s PDP anti-bulldozer bill in the assembly, fueling cries for land rights. Future? ACB vows arrests by October 15, with HC likely probing deeper. For Jammu, where 370’s shadow still darkens title deeds, it’s a call to safeguard our shared soil. CM Omar Abdullah, briefed at 2 PM, slammed: “No room for crooks; justice swift.