Ranchi, Sep 26: The Jharkhand Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested Vinay Kumar Singh, a resident of Ashok Nagar, Ranchi, in connection with a 2013 forest land scam in Hazaribagh. Singh is accused of colluding with jailed IAS officer Vinay Kumar Chaubey and other officials to illegally acquire protected forest land.
The scam involves five plots allotted in 2013 by the Deputy Collector Land Reforms (DCLR), later identified as forest land under the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Despite the allotments being cancelled, the land was allegedly irregularly transferred and regularised for personal gain.
The ACB investigation revealed forged documents and violations of a 1996 Supreme Court ruling (T.N. Godavarman vs. Union of India), which prohibits non-forest activities on protected land without central government clearance. Singh is said to have benefited as both purchaser and controller of the disputed plots.
He has been booked under IPC Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467, 468, 471 (forgery offences), along with relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Singh was produced before the court following his arrest. Authorities indicated that his arrest could expose further dimensions of the extensive forest land scam.