SRINAGAR, April 2: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jammu and Kashmir has filed a chargesheet against five officials of the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) and a private beneficiary in connection with the illegal construction of a commercial complex in Rajbagh. The accused are alleged to have facilitated the unauthorized construction by misusing official permissions.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that the chargesheet was produced in the Court of Additional Special Judge Anti-Corruption Srinagar in case FIR No. 11/2020, registered for offences under the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act and the Ranbir Penal Code. The case pertains to the abuse of official position, criminal conspiracy, and conferring undue benefits to a private individual.
The implicated SMC officials include Choudary Mehraj-Din Bhuja, the then Ward Officer; Showkat Hussain Hamdani, also a former Ward Officer; Nisar Ahmad Rah, the then Building Inspector; Gulzar Ahmad Bhat, another former Building Inspector; and Mudasir Hussain Banday, the then Chief Executive Officer of SMC. The private beneficiary named in the chargesheet is Mohammad Abdullah Dar, the owner of the illegally constructed complex.
The investigation revealed that Mohammad Abdullah Dar constructed a four-storey commercial shopping complex, identified as “Abdullah Shopping Plaza,” at Kursoo Rajbagh, Srinagar. This construction was allegedly carried out under the guise of building permission obtained for a residential house, in connivance with the accused SMC officers and officials. The ACB’s probe, based on oral and documentary evidence, has reportedly substantiated the charges of conspiracy between the government functionaries and the beneficiary.
Following the completion of the investigation and obtaining the requisite sanction for prosecution from the government, the ACB presented the chargesheet before the Additional Special Judge Anti-Corruption Srinagar. The court has fixed the next date of hearing for May 11, 2026, for judicial determination of the case.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
