Files missing from Sonbhadra tehsil office, FIR lodged

Lucknow: In what may be another hurdle for the SIT probe into the Umbha case, 14 documents from 2012 to 2019 went missing from the Ghorawal tehshil office on Saturday.
Sonbhadra district magistrate S. Rajalingam has ordered an investigation under Ghorawal SDM and has also lodged an FIR. Sources privy to the case told TOI that CCTV cameras installed at the tehsil office do not function.
Ghorawal tehsil had hogged headlines when 11 members of the Gond tribe, reportedly farming on a disputed plot of land in Umbha village, were allegedly killed by then gram pradhan Yagya Dutt and his henchmen on July 17 last year.
The state government later formed an SIT to probe the land dispute. The team is still on the job under a DIG-rank officer and its report is awaited.
During an inspection on Saturday, SDM Chandra Prakash found the 14 documents missing. He quizzed tehsildar Vikas Pandey before reporting the matter to the DM.
Rajalingam told TOI that he had asked the SDM to conduct a thorough probe and instructed the tehsildar to lodge an FIR. “We are yet to know exactly what kind of documents went missing. The probe will ascertain the same,” he said.
Ghorawal SHO Chandra Prakash Pandey said nazir (court official) Rajendra Prasad and peshkar (reader) Akhilesh Chandra had been booked for criminal breach of trust by public servant. Pandey added that police would assist the SDM in his probe as well.