The newly formed Jammu and Kashmir Apni party, led by Altaf Bukhari in the former state, has now found itself in the crosshairs of investigations into the Roshni law. Party spokesman Bikram Malhotra was mentioned in one of two new lists of alleged beneficiaries – in Samba and Nazoor – released by the Union Territory administration on Saturday.
In Samba’s list, Bikram Malhotra and his brother Aditya Malhotra were mentioned as the alleged beneficiaries of more than 17 kanals of land each in the village of Palth. The list mentions him simply as “Son of the former Speaker of the Legislative Council” – his father Amrit Malhotra is a congressional alumnus and was elected president of the Legislative Council in 2015.
The Apni party came into being in March 2020 with the blessing of Delhi, which, after the decisions of August 5, 2019 and the long-term detention of all key politicians, wanted political engagement to begin on the ground. Led by former PDP leader Altaf Bukhari with more than 20 former PDP, NC and Congress deputies, the party was to present to the people the governance of the Center and the development story for Kashmir. He also takes issue with the District Development Council’s ongoing polls at UT.
“We bought some farmland from someone over 20 years ago. While most of this land belonged to his property, the revenue department had entered khasra Girdawari in his name in part because he cultivated agricultural products there. As was the usual practice at that time, we purchased the entire land, including the part for which Khasra Girdawari was registered in her name by the revenue department. When the government came up with a plan to assign land ownership rights to its occupants subject to payment of fees, we also called for it, ”Malhotra told the Sunday Express. “It was agricultural land and we also use it for agricultural purposes. It was a government plan at the time and we followed all the rules prescribed under it.
Other key names on the new list are former MLC and PDP leader Nizamuddin Khatana and former congressman Parkash Chand Sharma’s son Sanjeev. While Khatana is said to have encroached on eight kanals of land in Jammu’s Sunjwan, Sharma is said to be an alleged beneficiary of three kanals in the Nandini area of Samba.
Khatana and Sharma were unavailable for comment.
Other alleged beneficiaries include businessman Sajjad Chaudhary, who is said to have obtained 20 kanals in Jammu, and Mohammed Majid, who, as a government employee, is said to have benefited from 17 kanals under the program. Businessman Sudhir Khurana (25 kanals) and Sahil Mahajan (20 kanals) are also mentioned in Samba’s list.
The names of retired DIG Khalid Durani, retired forestry officer Sultan Ali, retired DFO Qumar Ali and Lambardar Jamat Ali are on the list of suspected land encroachments in Jammu.
The administration previously mentioned the former PDP leader Haseeb Drabu and three of his parents as presumed beneficiaries apart from the treasurer of the Congress KK Amla and four leaders of the NC. On Tuesday, he alleged that Omar and Farooq Abdullah’s residence was built on overgrown forest land. He also claimed that a piece of land had been encroached by PDP for his office. Both parties have denied the accusation. However, UT administration officials say revenue records show the opposite. ( News Tube )
