Jammu, Sep 10 (IANS): The crime branch of J&K Police said on Sunday that it has unearthed a major scam in stamp paper usage in which two advocates and three stamp vendors are involved.

A crime branch statement said that the economic offences wing of the crime branch in Jammu carried out searches at five places in R.S. Pura, Greater Kailash and Bidhnah areas of Jammu district.

“FIR number 89/23 under sections 420, 465, 468, 471, 409 and 130-B of the IPC has been registered against the involved persons.

“Many documents, computers, laptops, etc., have been seized during the raids after a written complaint was lodged in which the complainant stated that huge losses had been inflicted to the revenue department through a scam involving stamp papers used in judicial documents.

“The complainant alleged that the fraud includes issuance of fake agriculture certificates, which are essential documents in the purchase and sale of agricultural land. These certificates are being issued illegally often to individuals with no genuine connection to agriculture.

“Further that some unscrupulous individuals, possibly in association with employees of the Sub Registrar’s Office, are fraudulently re-using stamp papers multiple times.

“After preliminary investigation, the investigating team found that the activities of the accused had compromised not only the legal integrity of land transactions, but also inflicted substantial financial losses to the revenue department and the state exchequer.

“The modus operandi of this organised gang involved a network of individuals, including certain Revenue Department officials, property dealers, stamp paper vendors, commission agents, and other intermediaries.

“It is evident that these individuals are operating with a high degree of coordination, facilitating the issuance of agriculture certificates in exchange for substantial sums of money”, the statement said.