The land and land reforms department has started investigating alleged nexus between the block land and land reforms officers and a section of unscrupulous influential local touts following directions from chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

The CM, addressing a public meeting in Siliguri on 12 December, instructed principal secretary of land department Smaraki Mahapatra to take stern action against the BL&LRO and other officials, who were involved in land scam in association with a group of local touts and influential people.

Following the chief minister’s direction, a three member team from the land department came down to Siliguri and Jalpaiguri and visited the offices of the BL&LRO in this region. Official sources said that the land department has transferred three BL&LROs from Matigara and municipal corporation area in Siliguri and another BL&LRO from Rajganj in Jalpaiguri. Official sources said, “The investigating team was examining the land scam cases in Rajganj area in between 2015 and 2020. In that period K Mallick, R Bhowal and others including S Majumder were posted in Rajganj land and land reforms office as BL&LRO.”

According to official sources, the government’s acquired land was allegedly recorded as personal property to demand compensation from the government for land acquisition during implementation of the government’s projects, including expansion projects for national highways within Rajganj block in Jalpaiguri district between 2015 and 2020.

Notably, following the media report, another investigation was going on and significantly, an officer posted in Jalpaiguri land acquisition office P Sengupta, was placed under ‘compulsory waiting’ recently. Investigations revealed that huge amounts of compensation was sanctioned for the land, during the acquisition process, which was the government’s acquired land but it was recorded as private land ‘temporarily’, allegedly with the help of a section of land and land reforms officials, just to manage compensation from the government.

A group of local touts was involved in a land scam with the help of both the land department and land acquisition department, sources said. According to records, a group of touts was the beneficiary of the land scam, during land acquisition process for widening of National Highway 31 and one of them was Babla Dutta, resident of Fatapukur in Jalpaiguri, was the mastermind