ED conducts searches in Jammu & Udhampur in custodian land grab case

August 25, 2025

Jammu: The ED’s Jammu sub-zonal office carried out searches at several locations in Jammu and Udhampur districts in connection with a land grabbing case involving custodian land (i.e. land left over by evacuees who migrated to Pakistan at the time of migration).

The action was carried out on August 22 under section of PMLA, 2002 at the premises of various patwaris, tehsildars, middlemen and land grabbers, who the agency said had corruptly usurped about 502.5 kanal of government custodian land.

The ED initiated the investigation on the basis of FIRs registered by ACB, JK Police. According to the agency, a whole system had been set up in which several revenue officials in connivance with private individuals, land grabbers and middlemen had fraudulently usurped 502.5 kanal of government custodian land since 2022, and its quantity is in and around Jammu. The value of the land is said to be around ₹20 crore.

After illegal possession, profits were made by creating false entries in forged back-dated mutation records, powers of attorney, sale deeds, and official revenue records; sales were then made through the forged documents and the proceeds from the sales were sent for personal use through multiple accounts.

Incriminating documents related to the asset, revenue records and digital evidence were recovered during the search. Further investigation is underway.

Activities like hawala money rackets, money laundering and drug smuggling are on the radar of security and intelligence agencies in Jammu and Kashmir. It is believed that these funds earned from illegal activities may have been used to sustain terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir.