Fraudster 'sells' Digvijaya Singh's land in UP's Ambedkarnagar

Ayodhya: A land belonging to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh in Uttar Pradesh's Ambedkarnagar district was allegedly sold by a fraudster, officials said on Sunday.

The alleged fraud came to light when caretaker Anil Yadav on Friday noticed construction work being undertaken on the land. He then lodged complaints with the district magistrate, sub-divisional magistrate and police.

The 0.152-hectare land parcel (plot number 1335 K) in the Ramnagar Mahuwar village of Alapur tehsil is registered in the name of Singh, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

It was previously registered in the name of Singh's mother Aparna Devi, who died in 1986. Singh subsequently applied for inheritance and the land was registered in his name on May 18, 2024, Yadav said.

The caretaker, in his complaints to the police and the tehsil administration, alleged that one Ram Harak Chauhan -- a resident of Kewtali village in Alapur tehsil -- impersonated Singh and "sold" the land to retired additional superintendent of police Jiyalal and Ramnagar Mahuwar residents Rajbahadur and Mangli in 1989.

The buyers' family members started construction on the land on Friday.

The tehsil administration has stopped the construction work and initiated a probe into the land records, the officials said.

An Alapur tehsil official confirmed that the land was still registered under Singh's name.

Tehsil sources said the three people had "purchased" the land through a sale deed but its mutation was not done in revenue records.

Singh got the land transferred in his name through mutation, which is a legal process that involves updation of land records when there is a change in ownership, they said.