Inside Kashmir’s land scam: How one plot is sold over and over again

In 2017, a retired Fisheries Director named Mufti Manzoor visited his land in Balhama, near Srinagar, to inspect it after purchasing it in 2012. Found fenced off with a house under construction, Manzoor reported the issue to revenue officials but received no response. Later, a committee headed by then Additional Deputy Commissioner K K Sidha investigated and discovered that someone else had purchased the property without his consent.

The case expanded beyond his land, revealing a widespread land scam where land was allegedly sold multiple times due to manipulated land records. Tehsildar Nusrat Aziz, a revenue official, allegedly ordered the cancellation of the land mutations, allowing the scam to continue. Aziz was later accused of assault and filing an FIR against her, though she was acquitted in court.