The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has rejected the anticipatory bail petition of OSD Veerpal Singh, accused in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority land scam.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh passed this order while hearing a Criminal Misc Anticipatory Bail Application under Section 438 CrPC filed by Veer Pal Singh.
By way of the application under Section 438 CrPC, the accused-applicant seeks bail in anticipation of his arrest pursuant to FIR dated 24.12.2019 lodged by Central Bureau of Investigation, under Sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 IPC read with Sections 13(1(c) and 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 at ACB/CBI, Ghaziabad.
Initially, the said FIR came to be registered with the U.P Police vide Case at Police Station Kasna, District Gautam Budh Nagar under Sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 IPC read with Sections 13(1)(c), 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the PC Act; the charge-sheet was filed against co accused, P.C Gupta; the Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, Meerut on 18.09.2018 found the role of many more persons during the course of the inquiry/trial; thereafter, chargesheets were filed against co-accused, Ranveer Singh, Brajesh Kumar, Gaurav, Manoj, Anil, Jugesh, Satendeer Chouhan, Satendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Ramesh Bansal and Sonia Bansal; thereafter, pursuant to the order dated 26.07.2018 of the Government of Uttar Pradesh and subsequent Gazette Notification issued by DoPT, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India, New-Delhi dated 14.10.2019, FIR got transferred to the CBI and a Regular Case had been registered on 24.12.2019, FIR of which vide Case was registered at Police Station Kasna, District Gautam Budh Nagar.
The case relates to a land scam of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA).
The investigation carried out by the CBI revealed that the YEIDA, which was responsible for implementing Yamuna Expressway Project and allied development in the region, had taken a policy decision during the year 2014-2016, therefore, a large chunk of land of nearby village of the YEIDA was purchased. The total consideration was of Rs 96,33,65,575/-.
The Court noted that,
Allegation against the accused is that vide order dated 01.10.2013 co-accused, P.C Gupta, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) had constituted a Committee for identification of 7% residential land to be awarded against land used in Agra, Mathura, Aligarh and Hathras districts for Yamuna Expressway. Co-accused-, OSD to the said P.C Gupta was heading the Committee and four other persons, who were Tehsilder, Ranveer Singh, Tehsildar, Suresh Chand Sharma, Manager (Project) Atul Kumar and in his absence Pati Ram and Manager (Planning) Brajesh Kumar.
The CBI, during the course of investigation, found that out of the 56.481 hectare land so purchased by YEIDA, approximately 41 hectare land had been purchased by 19 persons, who were related/ associated/allied to the officers of the YEIDA, namely, P.C Gupta, V.P Singh, Suresh Chand Sharma and Ranveer Singh), who had purchased the land just 2-3 months back from local farmers on much lesser rates and sold the same to YEIDA on much higher rates.
The CBI had concluded the investigation and had submitted charge-sheet against the accused, including the accused applicant, under Sections 120-B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 IPC read with Sections 13(1(c) and 13(1)(d) and 13(2) of the PC Act and substantive offence under Section 420 IPC.
“Considering the serious allegations and the fraud allegedly played by the accused-applicant and co-accused, the Court does not find it to be a fit case for enlarging the accused applicant on anticipatory bail”, the Court observed while rejecting the bail application.