A 92-year-old Army veteran who served in the 1962, 1965, and 1971 wars has filed a complaint alleging his agricultural land in Jaisalmer was sold through forged documents and impersonation. The retired officer, Captain Chunni Lal, claims the fraud occurred under a government rehabilitation scheme for families displaced by the Pong Dam project.
Land Allotted Under Rehabilitation Scheme
Captain Lal’s family surrendered ancestral farmland in Himachal Pradesh for the Pong Dam project and received barren land in Jaisalmer’s Mohangarh area under the Indira Gandhi Canal rehabilitation scheme. Over years, the family converted the desert plot into cultivable land.
Fraudulent Sale and Impersonation
The alleged sale deed was registered on June 16, with land mutation completed on June 22. The family states a 75-year-old impersonator posed as the veteran during registration. Police directed them across multiple stations before an FIR was filed at Kotwali, where the transaction allegedly occurred.
Revenue officials reportedly told the family the mutation could only be canceled through court. Captain Lal, a heart patient, said repeated visits to offices and police stations exhausted him, even causing him to fall asleep while providing fingerprints.
Broader Pattern of Land Fraud
Captain Lal and other ex-servicemen allege a systematic targeting of displaced Kangra allottees and veterans living outside Rajasthan. Lalaram Chaudhary, a retired Sergeant, claimed land brokers exploit unfamiliarity with local procedures to forge documents and grab land.
An FIR has been registered, and police are verifying revenue records. Additional SP Rewatdan confirmed the case, stating legal action will follow the investigation. Jaisalmer’s Additional District Magistrate deferred comment, citing jurisdictional limits.
