Highway to Loot – India Legal

By Neeraj Mishra

It is rare for ruling and opposition parties to see eye to eye on a corruption probe. But a brazen scam involving land acquisition for a small stretch of road under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has achieved just that.

The scam centres around a 9.8-kilometre segment of the Raipur-Visakhapatnam Economic Corridor, part of the flagship Bharatmala project. Here, a well-oiled racket of revenue officials, land brokers, and fake beneficiaries allegedly manipulated land records to siphon off over Rs 43 crore from compensation funds meant for displaced landowners. The total loss could balloon to Rs 350 crore if replicated across the state.

Investigations by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have led to multiple arrests and raids across four districts in Chhattisgarh. However, key accused, including a sub-divisional magistrate and other revenue officials, are currently absconding—raising uncomfortable questions about political protection.

THE MODUS OPERANDI: FAKING THE MAP, LOOTING THE TREASURY

The fraud began once NHAI road plans were shared with the local administration, which is responsible for identifying land­owners eligible for compensation. Armed with this advance information, the SDM and others in the Raipur district allegedly collaborated with brokers to game the system.

Here’s how they did it:

• Cheap Land, Big Profits: Brokers bought agricultural land earmarked for acquisition at throwaway prices.
• Change of Land Use (CLU): These plots were illegally converted to multi-use or commercial status, drastically inflating their compensation value.
• Subdividing for Profit: Plots were broken into smaller units (often 5500 sq ft or more—the NHAI’s minimum for full payout) and shown to have multiple owners, often fake or forged.
• Multiplied Claims: This sub-division and CLU conversion meant one acre of land could yield eight times the compensation—boosting the payout from Rs 4 lakh to as much as Rs 128 lakh.

The result: a massive siphoning off of public money, all under the nose of the state’s revenue apparatus.

THE ACCUSED AND THE FALLOUT

The scam has already resulted in the arrests of several private individuals:

• Kedar Tiwari and his wife Uma: Allegedly claimed Rs 2 crore under names of other landowners.
• Harmeet Singh Khanuja and Vijay Jain: Accused of colluding in submitting fraudulent claims.

More significantly, SDM Nirbhay Kumar Sahu, two tehsildars, one revenue inspector, and three patwaris—key to executing land classification and record manipulation—are currently on the run.

Raids on 20 premises have uncovered piles of incriminating documents. The investigation has now widened, with hints that IAS officers and politicians may have shared in the spoils.

POLITICAL CONSENSUS, RARE AND TELLING

The scam was first flagged by former BJP minister and Abhanpur MLA Chandrashekhar Sahu, who accused the then Congress MLA Dhanendra Sahu of shielding the accused—though no evidence has yet emerged to support that claim.

In a dramatic assembly debate this March, Leader of the Opposition Charan Das Mahant demanded a CBI investigation, suspecting that similar scams across the state could total Rs 350 crore.

Even Minister for General Administra­tion Tekram Verma conceded to the demand for deeper investigation, though the case was initially handed to the divisional commissioner. Only after sustained agitation did the ACB register an FIR.

THE LARGER IMPLICATIONS

This scam—disturbing as it is—is unlikely to be isolated. If similar land manipulation is taking place in other Bharatmala projects nationwide, the implications are staggering. Compensation frauds could be bleeding national infrastructure budgets dry.

The disappearance of the SDM-led gang only adds fuel to suspicions of high-level political patronage, possibly shielding a far larger network of corruption.

With public money involved and central funds at stake, only a central agency with nationwide jurisdiction, such as the CBI, can hope to untangle the full extent of the rot.

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