The CBI had been working on these cases for four months. After getting source information and developing it, the agency struck early on Monday morning. During the searches, a large number of documents relating to irregularities in recommending allotment of land, blank stamp papers and other instruments were allegedly recovered.

According to the FIRs filed by the CBI, between 1970 and 1980 or thereafter a number of group housing societies were registered in Delhi. Some of them became defunct due to non-operation or non-submission of auditable accounts, membership lists and other documents to the RCS for verification which are mandatory requirements under the Delhi Cooperative Societies Act, 1972.

It is alleged, the CBI said, that in several cases for various reasons, including non-allotment of land, the societies were subsequently wound up by the RCS. In 2003, when Delhi Development Authority was developing plots of land in five areas for allotment to about 80 CGHSs, certain builders and individuals hatched a conspiracy in collusion with the then Registrar of Cooperative Societies, the then Assistant Registrar (SW) and other officials of the then RCS to fraudulently revive these CGHSs on the basis of false or forged documents and recommend them to DDA for allotment of land. With this intention, the CBI said, the accused caused disappearance of the original files of the CGHSs and constructed new files by accepting bogus/forged records from the so-called office-bearers of these societies. The then RCS officials allegedly decided not to approach DDA for the original files

The CBI carried out 70 raids across the Capital against Group Housing Societies and its officials, including a retired IAS official, in connection with four cases of corruption.

In the raids, the central agency seized Rs 50 lakh in cash, a large number of documents, truck-loads of files and a blank stamp paper.

The searches were carried out at the premises of presidents, secretaries and registrars of various societies, besides a retired IAS official Narayan Diwaker. The IAS Officer, hailing from AGMU Cadre, was the Registrar Cooperative Societies, Delhi during the period when most of these Societies were revived and recommended to DDA for allotment of land.

A CBI spokesperson said that there were allegations that the ?so-called? cooperative societies after acquiring land had sold it to ?land mafias? who later constructed flats on them and sold it at heavy premium.

The raids come in the wake of four cases being registered on Friday involving the UNI Cooperative Group Housing Society (CGHS), Sartaj Cooperative Group Housing Society, Taj Cooperative Group Housing Society and Rajeshwari Cooperative Group Housing Society.

According to the FIRs, between 1970 and 1980 or thereafter a number of Cooperative Group Housing Societies (CGHS) were registered in Delhi, including the four against which the CBI had registered the cases, the spokesman said.

Some of these societies became defunct due to either non-operation or non-submission of auditable accounts, membership list and other documents to RCS for verification which are mandatory requirements as per the Delhi Cooperative Societies Act, 1972, the law under which the CGHS are registered and regulated, he said.

It is alleged that in several cases due to various reasons, including non-allotment of land, the Societies were wound up subsequently by the RCS.

In 2003, when Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was in the process of developing plots of land in five areas for allotment to about 80 CGHS, certain builders and other persons hatched a conspiracy in collusion with the then Registrar of Cooperative Societies, the then Assistant Registrar (SW) and other officials of the then RCS to fraudulently revive these CGHS on the basis of false or forged documents and recommend them to DDA for allotment of land to these Societies, the spokesman alleged.

With this intention, these accused persons caused the disappearance of the main original files of these CGHS and constructed new files by accepting bogus or forged records from the so-called office bearers of these societies, the CBI spokesman alleged.

The then officials of the RCS deliberately decided not to approach DA for the original files as DDA was also maintaining separate files of these CGHS.

Subsequently, the Cooperative Inspectors submitted bogus or fake inspection reports claiming to have visited the offices of these societies, examined the records and also submitted bogus or fake photo copies of ration cards of the members of these societies as proof of their residence.

Source The Hindu & Tribune The massive rot in the city?s group housing societies and land allocation has again been exposed with the CBI uncovering an allotment scam running into several thousand crores, which involved the fraudulent use of defunct co-operatives.

The method used by scamsters was simple. Defunct co-operative group housing societies (CGHSs) were ?revived? for land allotment through a builderofficial nexus. CBI on Monday raided 77 residences and offices in this connection, though no arrests were made so far.

??There are a number of people involved in the scam, including Narayan Diwakar, former head of registrar of co-operative societies (RCS) and a retired IAS officer of AGMU cadre, other public servants, several builders and agents,?? a CBI spokesperson said.

CBI said other former RCS officials involved in this mega-scam are J S Sindhu, D N Sharma and Jitendra Sharma, who worked with builders like S P Saxena, who was the kingpin of the fraud. Saxena hatched the plan to fraudulently revive defunct CGHSs in 2003, when DDA had started developing plots in five areas meant to be allotted to 80-odd co-operative societies.

There are more builders involved, like Ajit Singh of Prashant Vihar, Yogeshwar Rastogi of Munirka, Sandeep Sahni and broker Srichand. The CBI is expected to produce more names of those who walked away with crores of rupees.

The probe into the allotments had been ordered by the High Court and a hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, in which the CBI is expected to provide a status report.

??We had received information from our sources about the scam three to four months back and since then our economic offences wing (EOW) was busy verifying and building on the leads. We registered four cases on Friday,?? the CBI spokesperson said.

??As many as 50 teams were formed and mobilised this morning to raid several locations in Delhi.?