Five held in Ahmedabad for Rs 100 crore Waqf property scam

Ahmedabad, April 20 (IANS) Ahmedabad Police have arrested five persons accused of illegally posing as trustees and collecting crores of rupees in rent from properties belonging to the Kanch Ni Masjid (Glass Mosque) and Shah Bada Kasam Trust in the Jamalpur area.

The accused -- identified as Salim Khan Pathan, Mohammad Yasar Sheikh, Mehmud Khan Pathan, Faiz Mohammad Jobdar and Shahid Ahmed Sheikh -- were allegedly collecting rent from tenants and shopkeepers despite having no official appointment from the Gujarat Waqf Board.

Authorities revealed that the accused collected rent from approximately 15 residential properties and up to 200 houses, including two illegally constructed six-story buildings. They also allegedly controlled 25 to 30 shops on trust land, charging tenants between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 per house and Rs 10,000 per shop.

The cumulative value of the properties under fraudulent control is estimated at Rs 100 crore. In addition, the accused are suspected of siphoning off around Rs 50,000 per month from the Shah Bada Kasim Trust’s donation box. Police said that Salim Khan, who has prior criminal cases including murder and rioting, submitted a forged affidavit to the Waqf Board in July 2024, falsely claiming to be a trustee.

A complaint lodged at the Gaekwad Haveli Police Station led to the unearthing of the scam, which police believe has been operating for nearly two decades.

According to investigators, the Waqf Board had allotted land to the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for the construction of an Urdu school. The building was damaged in the 2001 earthquake and was later demolished in 2009. Instead of reconstructing the school, the accused allegedly built around 10 shops on the land, one of which was used as an office for ‘Sodagar Construction’ run by prime accused Salim Khan. The remaining shops were rented out, with none of the income routed to the trust or AMC.

Zone 3 in-charge DCP Bharat Rathod confirmed the arrests and said further investigations are underway to trace the full extent of the misappropriation and identify other potential collaborators in the scam.

--IANS

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