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Suhail Rather
Bandipora : A local court in Bandipora has issued a non-bailable warrant against Ab Gani Khan, a resident of Chowadi, Jammu, in connection with multiple cheque bounce cases linked to a broader land scam that duped several buyers in the district.
The Judicial Magistrate 1st Class Bandipora, Amandeep Singh, passed the order under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act after the accused failed to appear before the court in three separate cheque dishonour cases.
The court has directed the Station House Officer (SHO), Sainik Colony, Jammu, to arrest the accused and produce him before the court on or before May 24, 2025.
According to the court order, the warrant has also been forwarded to the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jammu, for execution. SSP Jammu has been asked to comply the warrant and a compliance report has been sought in case the arrest is not carried out.
The directions were passed in three separate cases related to cheque bounce cases filed by three petitioners, including Hilal Ahmad Bhat, Gh Ahmad Sheikh and Sheikh Saleem, all residents of Bandipora. The petitioners are being represented by Advocate Shafiq Ahmad Bhat.
The accused, along with a local accomplice, Shahnawaz Ahmad Mir, was under the scanner for allegedly running an organised land scam that defrauded over a dozen residents of Bandipora district. “After several attempts, the accused gave cheques to three persons (petitioners) to return the money, but the cheques bounced as there was no balance in the account,” petitioners told news reporter.
The duo allegedly promised to sell land in Chowadi, Jammu, which, as it later turned out, was earmarked for the Regional Science Centre and other developmental projects being established by the government.
Victims claimed that they were shown fake land documents and made to believe the deal was genuine. However, when asked to provide proper documentation for legal registration, the accused kept delaying with various excuses.
Three Buyers who were duped said Shahnawaz Mir, a resident of Plan Bandipora, gave them cheques from the bank account of his accomplice, Ab Gani Khan, addressed to State Cooperative Bank Narwal, but all the cheques got bounced, following which they registered a case against the land mafia.
The matter gained further attention after JK Government in Jammu last year confirmed that 100 kanals of land at Chowadi had been officially identified for the Regional Science Centre, exposing the scam.
“We were surprised when we read the news about the land that was shown to us by these persons as proprietary land,” said one of the petitioners.
He said the fraudsters who seem to be part of the big land mafia have duped dozens of people from Bandipora, including several local politicians. “We were lucky to get cheques at least after a long struggle, but those too bounced and hence the legal proceeding,” he added.
Locals have urged law enforcement agencies, including the police and the NIA, to launch a deeper investigation into the matter, warning that this may be just the “tip of the iceberg” of a much larger land mafia network operating in the region.
The petitioners have cautioned citizens to remain vigilant and avoid falling prey to such fraudulent land deals.
