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Journalism of Courage
An IAS officer was booked for criminal conspiracy and under the Prevention of Corruption Act for swapping prime government land with cheaper private land,thereby helping individuals make crores.
Using a provision in the states Revenue Book Circular (RBC) that allows such an exchange provided the market value of both the plots of land is the same,Anju Baghel allegedly helped private landowners when she was posted in Katni as Collector in 2007.
The RBC allows such exchange if the government needs private land for setting up public facilities.
Baghel was suspended in October 2009 after a preliminary report by then Jabalpur Division Commissioner Prabhat Parasher found the charges,levelled in an anonymous complaint,to be true.
The Economic Offences Wing registered an FIR against Baghel,SDM (Bahoriband) Jitendra Chouhan and two other revenue officials. The FIR also named an alleged beneficiary,Mohammed Abbas Abdul Vahid Saki,who purchased 1.90 hectares of unirrigated land in Sleemnabad for Rs 1.94 lakh and applied for getting it exchanged with government land in Hardua village adjacent to the NH 7. The permission was granted after Saki paid a difference of Rs 1.58 lakh. The EOW said the government land was worth much more.
