Noida: An FIR against two Noida Authority officials in May 2021 for allegedly processing a Rs 7-crore land payout to a beneficiary after the Allahabad High Court dismissed her petition finally snowballed into a Supreme Court-constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe against officials and middlemen for allegedly taking bribes from farmers to expedite or enhance land acquisition compensation.After a Supreme Court direction, the vigilance department Monday said it would take over the probe into the six FIRs registered by the SIT once it received formal communication from the state govt.“An SIT was probing the land scam in Noida. We are yet to receive the court order from the state govt. The vigilance team will take over the investigation once we receive information from govt,” IG (vigilance) Manzil Saini said.The first FIR was filed by the Authority on May 20, 2021, against two of its officials — assistant legal officer Virendra Singh Nagar and legal adviser Dinesh Kumar Singh — on a complaint by legal officer Sushil Bhati, who accused the duo of criminal conspiracy involving fraudulent legal proceedings and wrongful payment of compensation, causing a loss of more than Rs 7 crore to the Authority.The case dates back to 1982, when Noida acquired 10.15 acres of agricultural land in Gejha village, then part of Ghaziabad, owned by farmer Phundan. The Authority took possession of the land on Nov 24, 1982, with compensation initially fixed at Rs 10.12 per square yard. The landowner challenged the rate in district court, which enhanced it to Rs 16.61 per square yard on May 28, 1993. The Authority deposited the revised amount, and no further appeal was filed for nearly two decades.Following Phundan’s death, his daughter Ramvati filed a petition before the Allahabad High Court in 2015 seeking enhanced compensation. The High Court dismissed the petition on July 8, 2015. Despite the dismissal, Ramvati allegedly moved an application before Noida Authority on Sept 23 that year, claiming her High Court case was still pending and seeking compensation at Rs 297 per square yard, citing rates paid to other villagers.Virendra and Dinesh processed the application without verifying the status of the High Court case. On Dec 11, 2015, a proposal was moved to release a compensation cheque of Rs 7.26 crore in Ramvati’s favour. Ramvati secured the payout through false representations, while the two officials knowingly processed and endorsed the proposal despite there being no surviving legal claim.Virendra, Dinesh and Ramvati were booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 and 468 (forgery), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), 120B (conspiracy), and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act after the FIR was filed at Sector 20 police station.In 2025, a Supreme Court bench, while hearing Virendra’s anticipatory bail plea, observed the allegations appeared to extend beyond a single compensation case and ordered a broader probe into the Authority’s functioning. The court constituted a three-member committee led by then UP additional director general of police (ADGP) SB Shirodkar to examine whether similar cases existed and to recommend reforms. In Aug that year, the court directed UP DGP to form a three-member SIT to investigate all such cases.The SIT filed six FIRs at Phase 1 police station and named another law officer, Rajesh Kumar, in the case. It also conducted raids on the residences of the former officials in Jan this year and recently submitted its report to the state govt.In its report, the SIT noted that enhanced compensation was paid to landowners in 1,198 cases, including 1,167 where courts directed such payments.
