Srinagar 18 Jan(KNB): Amidst the ongoing government crackdown on corruption, illegal assets beyond income and corruption, anti-corruption agencies have arrested 7 corrupt officials including 4 Patwaris of the Revenue Department and put them behind bars during the last one month.
The public has appreciated such swift action and has called for confiscation of the illegal properties of the corrupt.
On December 20, in Panjura Shopian, the notorious Patwari Ashiq Hussain Shah, a resident of Tarkawangam Shopian, was arrested red-handed by the ACB team while accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 and a case was registered against him under the P/C Act, 1988 under FIR No. 05/2025 7 and an investigation has been initiated. Later, a search was conducted at the residence of the accused Patwari in the presence of the Executive Magistrate and independent witnesses.
The ACB has now widened the scope of the investigation to trace the assets beyond the income of the said Patwari and the illegal properties of his close relatives. Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Bureau on December 26 arrested Manzoor Ahmad Ahingar, a clerk of the Rural Development Department, Rural Engineering Wing, in Anantnag, while accepting a bribe and registered a case under FIR No. 06/2025 P/C Act 1988 under 7 PSA. On January 3, the ACB team caught Laik Ahmad Nath, a clerk of Tehsil Office, Shalateng, Srinagar, while illegally accepting a bribe of Rs. 2,000 and registered an FIR No. 01/2026 U/S 7 PC Act 1988. On January 6, the ACB arrested Patwari Pradhan Singh in Ladha Tehsil, Mongri, District Udhampur for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 5,000 and registered an FIR No. 01/2026 U/S 07 for Prevention of Corruption. Corruption, Act, 1988 and Section 61(2) BNS, 2023 UPS-updham were registered. Continuing the operation against bribe takers, the ACB arrested Riaz Ahmed Khan, Patwari of Rakhsotho Budgam constituency, on January 10, while accepting a bribe of Rs. 10,000 and registered an FIR No. 02/2026 U/S 7 PC Act, 1988 against him.
In another similar operation, the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a Patwari and a Chowkidar posted in Soufshali constituency, Kokarnag, Anantnag in a bribe case of Rs. 15,000. The ongoing operations by the ACB against bribe takers are being highly appreciated by the public and people are demanding that all the illegal properties of such bribe takers be attached and they be dismissed from their jobs so that the ongoing government campaign against bribery can be fully effective at the ground level.
Anti-Corruption Bureau in South Kashmir Expressing satisfaction over the successive actions, the public has reiterated its demand for confiscation of the illegal assets acquired by Shopian’s notorious Patwari Ashiq Hussain Shah over the past 12 years, including a petrol pump in Tarkawangam and a luxurious house and expensive vehicles in Pulwama town, along with other illegal properties. People say that the said Patwari had been running a bribery business in the district for the past several years and had appointed several of his associates and agents for this purpose.