HYDERABAD: State police probing the criminal activities of gangster
Nayeem
have begun focusing on the government officials who had links with the slain renegade Maoist and the first official grilled was from the stamps and registration department.
After the interrogation of arrested family members of Nayeem, his close associates and verification of land records in their possession,
Nalgonda
police said a senior employee of the sub-registrar office in Nalgonda district played a key role in helping the gangster grab land from legal owners.
The 40-year-old official, who is currently holding a key position at a sub-registrar office in Nalgonda, worked with Nayeem since 2008 when he was a junior clerk.
Subsequently, he became a senior clerk and got another promotion just a year.
Cops recently took the official into custody and grilled him for two days. "During the interrogation, the official confessed to having worked for Nayeem . He said that Nayeem's gang used to pay him Rs 50,000 for each deal and he was threatened by gang members whenever he refused to obey gangster's orders," a Bhongir police official said.
According to SIT sources, the official played the main role in registering 75 acres of land located in
SLN Colony and
Teachers Colony of Bhongir
in the name of Nayeem's family members and other associates. "The actual owner of the land executed a
GPA
in the name of another person, and the latter, in turn, sold it to scores of people. Based on the advise of the sub registrar office official, Nayeem prevailed on the owner to register the 75 acres of the same land in the name of his associates. Some sub registrar officials were browbeaten into falling in line," said an investigating official.
The accused official confessed to the cops that from 2008 to 2012, Nayeem's associates used to come to him for registration and, since 2012, he met Nayeem or his associates and finish the formalities at the place of their convenience due to increased pressure on the gang from the police.
Police said that the accused used to make Nayeem's gang members meet the heads of sub registrar offices concerned to facilitate shady land registrations. "Nayeem threatened five sub registrars when they refused to do illegal registrations and forced them to toe his line," said a SIT official.
Nayeem also exploited the lacunae in land registration procedures where during the land registration, the staff of sub registrar offices only check if the stamp duty is paid or if the land is a government property. "It is the purchaser's responsibility to check the land ownership details by obtaining encumbrance certificate. Sub registrar office staff do not bother to verify double registration," said a Bhongir police official.
The official also helped Nayeem to register chunks of the illegally obtained land in SLN and Teachers colonies in the names of the benamis of certain police officials. Top police sources said that they are gathering some more evidence before arresting the official.