Though the district administration has ordered an inquiry, complicity of officials is not ruled out since the land was registered in the names of the two companies at registrar offices. The sale agreements were executed at registrar offices at Shergarh, Jodhpur, Bilara and Bhopalgarh.
Jodhpur collector Siddharth Mahanjan said the tehsil officials had been asked to stop mutation of all lands registered in the name of the two companies. ‘‘Without mutation, ownership is not transferred,’’ he said.
Jodhpur ADM Harji Atal said: ‘‘The collector has ordered a joint inquiry by DIG (registration) and SDM (Phalodi) and three cases have so far been registered.’’ He said that 26 cases of forged registrations had come to notice in which 2,276-bigha land was sold bringing a revenue of Rs 32.76 crore to the state exchequer.
‘‘These transactions and registrations were not possible without the consent of district officials,’’ said a farmer. Two companies, M/S Maitraye Services P Ltd, Mumbai, and Ashapuri Developers P Ltd, Delhi, have emerged as the buyers of these lands.
Villagers alleged that the company representatives took out copies of ‘‘jamabandi’’ (land sharing records) and fabricated documents using same names but wrong photos and voter ID cards.
‘‘They chose single-owner land rather than multiple-owner lands to ensure a smooth registration process,’’ said Hajari Ram Godara, a farmer, who fell prey to such cheating. ‘‘These lands have been sold in about 13 villages,’’ Godara said. The affected villages are: Kanasar, Neva, Mandali, Sanwar, Revara, Modakiya, Tekara, Raneri, Jamba, Luna, Kansingh ki Sid, Jaisala and Kelasar.