Land case on Mirwaiz, IAS kin

SRINAGAR: J&K Police’s Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday booked Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, his IAS brother-in-law Majeed Khalil Drabu and five others for allegedly encroaching on nearly an acre of “evacuee/custodian land” on which the duo’s Srinagar’s houses stand.

“Evacuee” or custodian lands belong to those who migrated to Pakistan after Partition, and they remain in the control of the govt. In the case of Farooq and Drabu, the FIR claims the allotment of the land at Negeen in Hazratbal area of Srinagar several decades ago was done in a wrongful manner in collusion with revenue officials.

According to the FIR, ACB’s preliminary inquiry reveals that the land was “unlawfully allotted by the custodian department, without proper sanction and an open auction, violating established provisions”.

If the charges are proved, the land and the houses will be confiscated, sources said. Majeed is currently serving as Control Legal Metrology. Farooq is chairman of the now-banned Hurriyat conference.