FIR against 10 for tampering with land registry records in Araria

Araria: Purchasing land through registered sale deeds and paying substantial stamp duty may no longer guarantee ownership security in Araria district, where serious allegations of systematic tampering with govt registry records have surfaced, putting bona fide purchasers at risk of losing their land and forcing them into prolonged litigation.

The fraud, reportedly committed between August and October 2025, has triggered an FIR against 10 people, including outsourced staff and registry office personnel, following an inquiry that exposed large-scale manipulation of Zild records dating back decades.


In a startling revelation, it has come to light that original pages of a registered sale deed preserved in the Araria registry office were allegedly torn out and replaced with forged documents, changing the name of the purchaser. The manipulated records were then used to obtain certified copies from the same government office, leading to the deletion of the genuine buyer’s name from the Jamabandi (land revenue) register.

According to official records, page numbers 344, 345, and 346 of Zild no. 65 relating to Registered Sale Deed No. 10272 were removed, and fresh pages bearing altered purchaser details were pasted in their place. The forged deed was subsequently used to secure certified copies from the bound zild, which is meant to be a faithful compilation of original registered sale deeds maintained by the govt.

The fraud came to light following a complaint by land purchaser Mohd Nishad, a resident of Jokihat. Acting on the complaint, district sub-registrar Araria, Kaushal Kishore Jha, ordered an inquiry, which was conducted by record keeper Md Safi Anwar. The inquiry report confirmed that original contents of the sale deed dating back to 1960 had been removed and replaced with fabricated pages carrying a changed buyer’s name.

The report further identified the involvement of personnel from an outsourcing agency—Rohit Ranjan and Mohd Shahanwal—along with eight others. The inquiry noted that such large-scale manipulation of official records could not have been executed without active connivance of staff working within the registry office. The fraudulent acts were reportedly committed between August and October 2025.

Based on the findings, an FIR has been registered on the complaint of record keeper Mohd Anwar against 10 people, including the alleged fake beneficiaries. “Earlier, four FIRs involving similar allegations have already been lodged against the wrongdoers at different police stations in the district,” said district sub-registrar K K Jha. He admitted that such acts of fraud, forgery, perjury, and replacement of official documents cannot occur without the involvement of office personnel.

This is not an isolated incident. About nine months earlier, during the tenure of the present district sub-registrar, Mohd Safi Anwar had lodged three FIRs at Raniganj, Forbesganj, and Araria police stations against five persons after inquiries revealed prima facie evidence of similar fraud. In March 2025, FIRs were also registered for tampering with original sale deed records dating back to the period between 1914 and 1922.

Investigations further revealed that two multi-tasking staff (MTS), whose primary duty was to locate original Zilds for supplying certified copies to applicants after receipt of prescribed fees, were also implicated in the manipulation of records.

Araria SDPO Sushil Kumar and SHO of Town police station, who visited the Araria registry office, said that without the help of the official staff, it is not possible to remove the original record and replace it with fake contents.

Senior advocate and former president of the Araria Bar Association, Vinay Thakur, expressed grave concern over the situation, stating, “All is not well in the registry offices of Araria district. During the tenure of former SP Shivdeep Lande, a gang involved in preparing fake documents was busted, and its kingpin had confessed that over 10,000 bogus sale deeds had been created in the district.”

The unfolding scandal has raised serious questions about the integrity of land records in the district and triggered widespread fear among landowners, who now worry that even registered ownership may not be secure.

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