Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Baramulla Naseer Ahmed Dar has fixed November, 23, 2020 for hearing final arguments on the question of framing of charge/discharge in case FIR No.08/2009 P/S VOK (infamous Gulmarg land scam) wherein on June, 11, 2020 the Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Baramulla after hearing a battery of lawyers on the question of charge/discharge had directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau, Kashmir to investigate further on the aspect as to what impact the documents/material would have as the involvement of the accused/matter in controversy in the infamous Gulmarg land scam. The Trial Court had further directed the ACB, Kashmir to submit supplementary charge sheet before it within a period of 04 months and the matter was directed to come up alongwith supplementary charge sheet on October, 10, 2020.
Needless to mention herein that J&K High Court vide its order dated October, 15, 2018 while allowing the Revision Petition filed by one of the accused i.e. the then Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Mehboob Iqbal (IAS) had directed the Trial Court at Baramulla to take into consideration the records produced by Vigilance Organization, Kashmir before the J&K High Court while deciding the question on charge/discharge and also to accord due consideration to the written submissions filed by the respective sides in the case. The documents include the opinion given by M.I. Qadri, the then Advocate General dated March, 23, 2011 and also the communication forwarded by GAD vide No.GAD (Vig) 12-WP/2016 dated 16-09-2016 including communication bearing No.LD(ACQ) 2016/110/GAD/(Vig) dated 15-09-2016.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau, Kashmir pursuant to the order dated June, 11, 2020 passed by the Special Judge (Anti-Corruption) Baramulla further investigated the matter for ascertaining the impact of the aforementioned documents as directed by the J&K High Court in its order dated October, 15, 2018 and ACB Kashmir on October, 10, 2020 filed a supplementary charge sheet confirming/ratifying its earlier investigation/main charge sheet.
The matter is now coming up on November, 23, 2020 in the wake of the supplementary charge sheet filed by ACB, Kashmir and the trial court is likely to hear the final arguments on the question of charge/discharge.
It may be recalled that Gulmarg land scam was unearthed when Vigilance Organization Kashmir (VOK) in 2009 had registered FIR No.08/2009 against 20 accused including Mehboob Iqbal (IAS) the then Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmed Khan (IAS) the then Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Farooq Ahmed Shah the then Additional Deputy Commissioner Baramulla, Garib Singh then Tehsildar Tangmarg, Ghulam Mohi-ud-Din Shah then Naib-Tehsildar Kunzar and Top Hoteliers of Kashmir Valley Mushtaq Ahmed Ganie alias Chaya son of Abdul Aziz Ganie R/o Nishat Srinagar, Mushtaq Ahmed Burza son of Ghulam Ahmed Burza R/o Ishbar Nishat Srinagar, Manzoor Ahmed Burza son of Ghulam Ahmed Burza, Manzoor Ahmed Khan S/o Ghulam Mohd. Khan, Mohammad Ibrahim Khan son of Ghulam Hassan Khan and others.JNF