News Source: timesofindia | Image Courtesy: pxleyes janpratinidhi

A farmer, identified as Neeraj Kumar, of Fatehabad tehsil of Agra conducted a sting operation to expose the lekhpal who demanded a sum of Rs 3 lakh for releasing the compensatory fund for the acquired land for Greenfield Expressway from Agra to Lucknow.

Neeraj had 16 bigha of land, of which the government acquired 6.25 bigha. The land was erratic but attached to the link road of Agra-Lucknow Greenfield Expressway. He sought compensation for his land, but the concerned Lekhpal, Rajendra Prasad, asked for bribe to get the work done. The lekhpal said that unless Kumar paid the bribe amount, he would not exhibit the fact that the land was attached to the link road, which would result in the compensation getting calculated at Rs 16 lakh per bigha instead of Rs 22 lakh per bigha.

Initially, the lekhpal asked for Rs 5 lakh, but later settled for Rs 3 lakh. On the date of payment Neeraj did a sting operation and made a video. The clip went viral revealing the misdoing of the lekhpal who was shown receiving the bribe. Following this, the accused lekhpal was suspended and a team headed by SDM Fatehabad J P Singh was formed to probe the matter.

This is not an isolated case of Neeraj Kumar, but many farmers like him from the Fatehabad tehsil have been victims of this multi-crore scam.

The Logical Indian requests the concerned authorities to do a well-researched probe into the matter so that the culprits can be punished, and to ensure that other farmers get their genuine compensation without paying bribes to any official.