Order to transfer disputed land to Trust missing: Sonbhadra DM

DM, Ankit Kumar Agrawal, told The Indian Express, “The case file of the tehsildar’s order is not there. Some documents are destroyed after some time because they can’t be stored forever. It must have been destroyed. But, the transfer of the disputed land to the society is lodged in the revenue records. And other documents related to the transfer of the land are there. Only the case file of the tehsildar’s order is not there.”

The DM added that all documents related to the disputed land have been sent to the committee formed to probe the land dispute and the incident of firing on July 17.

On Saturday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had suggested that the genesis of the land dispute was laid in 1955, during Congress rule, and said the committee set up to investigate the shooting incident in Gharowal area of Sonbhadra district will look into this. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have demanded a CBI probe into the incident.”The records of the land belong to the time when Sonbhadra was part of Mirzapur district, till 1989. Some records are destroyed after a specified period of time. The same is the case here,” Additional District Magistrate Yogendra Bahadur Singh told PTI.

Some records, which are taken as time barred, are destroyed in a routine manner as every paper cannot be stored, the ADM said. The committee constituted by Adityanath under the additional chief secretary (revenue)has to give its report within 10 days. At a press conference after visiting the village, Adityanath had sought to pin the blame on the Congress rule from 1955 to 1989.

His government has claimed that the 90-bigha plot was illegally transferred to Adarsh Co-operative Society, which held the land till 1989.
It claimed that the ownership of the land was changed to individual that year. Later, the individual reportedly sold the land to gram pradhan Yagya Dutt, the main accused in the firing incident on July 17 that killed 10 and left many injured.

Ten Gond tribals were gunned down while resiting a violent attempt by the village head and his men to take control of the land.
On Tuesday, ADM Singh said Dutt also had held the possession of another plot of land in front of his house illegally and the district administration has got it freed.
District Magistrate Ankit Kumar Agarwal has ordered an inquiry into all development-related work undertaken in the area.