More than 1,000 plots have been freed from the illegal possession of land sharks over the past one year, as the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) intensified its crackdown on land grabbing in the city’s outskirts. During the same period, nearly 40 FIRs were registered against alleged members of the land mafia by the PDA and the district administration.
The action gained momentum earlier this year after district authorities stumbled upon a startling case in which land earmarked for the construction of an Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) police station and an Election Commission office had also been illegally encroached upon, divided into plots and attempts made to sell it off by land sharks, under the Air Force police station limits.
Taking serious note of the incident, the Prayagraj district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma constituted an Anti-Land Mafia Task Force (AMTF) in February, which shortlisted people allegedly involved in large-scale encroachment.
The Anti-Land Mafia Task Force comprises SDM (Sadar) Abhishek Kumar Singh, ACP (Dhoomanganj) Ajendra Yadav, Tehsildar (Sadar) Anil Pathak, Dhoomanganj SHO Rajesh Upadhyay, along with assistant engineers from the irrigation and public works departments.
The Task Force identified 12 people who had encroached upon government land along Airport Road meant for strategic and administrative purposes. The land was subsequently reclaimed, and cases were registered against all the accused, who are now set to be officially declared land mafia by the district police.
However, despite the documentation and FIRs, none of the accused have been arrested so far, even as fresh complaints of encroachment on government land continue to emerge from the city’s outskirts.
SDM (Sadar) Abhishek Kumar Singh said the committee’s role was limited to identification and shortlisting of anti-social elements. “Action has to be initiated by the police,” he said.
According to PDA officials, land sharks remain active in all six zones of the authority such as Rasulpur, Mariyadih Uparhar, Kashipur Uparhar, Ponghat (Bamrauli), Gyasuddinpur Uparhar, Jhunsi, Pura Mufti and Naini, most of which lie on the city’s outskirts.
PDA secretary Ajit Singh said the common modus operandi involves constructing knee-high boundary walls to mark plots on disputed or government land and selling them at throwaway prices. “We are carrying out regular anti-encroachment drives and have lodged FIRs at various police stations,” he added.
In June 2025, PDA building inspector Kunwar Anand lodged seven FIRs in a single day—six at the Airport police station and one at Kareli—marking the highest number of cases registered in a day against land sharks. The FIRs named 12 individuals, including Imran, the brother-in-law of slain mafia don Atiq Ahmed, along with his brothers Zeeshan and Janu.
DCP (city) Manish Shandilya said efforts were underway to initiate action against those involved in illegal plotting. Meanwhile, a city-based builder, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that after the killing of kingpins of IS227 gang Atiq and Ashraf Ahmed, surviving associates were attempting to revive the syndicate’s grip by forcibly grabbing land and, in some cases, eliminating those who resisted.
