Another accused in the Rs 126 cr Yamuna Expressway land scam arrested

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The Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Tuesday arrested the another accused in the Rs 126 crore Yamuna Expressway land scam, a senior officer said. Sanjeev Kumar Singh, a lawyer and a native of Bulandhahr, was held for his alleged involvement in the land fraud case linked to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). This is the fourth arrest in the last five days and the fifth overall in the five-year-old case in which 21 people including a former IAS officer, who also served as the YEIDA chairman, were named in the FIR, the officials said.

"Singh was the director of three firms-- Data Infrastructure, ANG and Himalaya-- involved in the fraud," Circle Officer, Greater Noida First, Nishank Sharma said. "For ANG, he had got seven to eight land registries done in his name while personally he had invested Rs 70 lakh in the fraud deals," he added.

According to the police, the accused YEIDA officials, including a former CEO, in a tie-up with some private firms had purchased around 57 hectares of "useless" land in 2014 from seven villages of Mathura in lieu of compensation to their owners by the authority. But the compensation amount was much higher than what was defined by the authority for such purchases. Also in doing so, the accused not only caused loss to the YEIDA but also made personal gains fraudulently, the police said.

In June, YEIDA had submitted a complaint against 21 persons at the Kasna Police Station in Greater Noida over the alleged land fraud in 2013-2014. One of the accused is a former IAS officer P C Gupta, who was also the chief executive officer of YEIDA during the time the case transpired. Gupta, who was appointed to the post in 2013, was held this June from Datia in Madhya Pradesh. Two directors of a builder's firm and a middleman were held last week, he said. Police are probing the case and will soon ensure arrest of the other accused, Sharma said.

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