An airstrip used by the Indian Air Force during the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars as an advanced landing ground at a village in Ferozepur close to the Pakistan border was allegedly sold by a woman and her son in collusion with some revenue officials in 1997.
But after a retired revenue official filed a complaint that led to an inquiry, the land was given back to the defence ministry, officials said. On June 28, police registered a case against Usha Ansal and her son Naveen Chand Ansal, both residents of Dumni Wala village, under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code including 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) at Kulgarhi police station.
This piece of land was part of 982 acres of land earlier acquired by the British government in 1939 for the use of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Even the IAF used this air strip during 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars for emergency landings and defence purposes.
Deputy superintendent of police Karan Sharma said that based on the complaint submitted to the chief director Vigilance Bureau by Nishan Singh, a retired revenue official, an inquiry was conducted and after the report was submitted, the FIR was registered against the accused.
According to the inquiry report, the accused allegedly sold the air force land to private persons in collusion with some lower-rung revenue officials.
The matter was first raised by Nishan Singh.After the matter regarding fraudulent sale of chunk of land (measuring 118 Kanal 16 Marla) situated at Fattuwala village came to fore, the Commandant of the Air Force Station Halwara through Station Headquarters Ferozepur April 16, 2021 wrote to the then deputy commissioner Ferozepur to conduct an inquiry into this matter.
Nishan Singh also filed a petition over inordinate delay in the inquiry, after which the Punjab and Haryana high court directed the Ferozepur DC on December 21, 2023 to complete it in six months.
Later, the DC Ferozepur submitted a three-page report which stated that the land was in the same condition as per the revenue record of 1958-59 and its possession was still with the IAF.
However, not satisfied with the report, Nishan Singh, filed another petition in the high court alleging that several facts had been concealed in the report submitted to the state government, further accusing that the mutation of this land was executed in favour of private persons in 2001 in connivance with the revenue officials.
In May, the part of the ALG land, which had been allegedly transferred to private persons, was restored to the Ministry of Defence following the inquiry conducted by the district administration.
The land was earlier handed over to Madan Mohan Lal and his brother Tek Chand, who were appointed as the “Crop Manager” by the Union Government in 1964 under a scheme mooted by the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to utilise vacant lands belonging to defence for cultivation to enhance food grain production to tide over food crisis.
However, subsequently after the demise of Madan, the land was allegedly sold off using his general power of attorney.
