Moga patwari held for tampering with revenue records

The Moga police have arrested a patwari for duping the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) of Rs 1 crore in connivance with an NRI woman. Both had been booked for cheating after an inquiry by the Vigilance Bureau (VB).

As per the VB inquiry, the patwari had allegedly tampered with revenue record to show Dilkhush Kumari, an NRI, as the owner of about 4,100 sq yard government land. Situated in Adraman village of Moga, this portion of the land was acquired by the NHAI for the construction of NH-754.

The patwari allegedly forged the signatures of the senior officials of the Revenue Department to show Dilkhush Kumari as the owner of the land in the revenue record and on the basis of these forged entries, the accused got Rs 1.0065 crore compensation from the NHAI in December 2022.

However, days after the payment of this compensation to Dilkhush Kumari, two retired revenue department officials blew the lid off the scam and a Vigilance probed the issue. On the basis of VB inquiry report, the Moga ADC approached the Moga police for registration of a criminal case against the patwari and the NRI woman under Sections 420, 465, 467, 471, 120-B of the IPC.