Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Police has booked a retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer S K Langa, who had previously served as the Gandhinagar collector. He is accused of engaging in illegal activities while serving as a public servant, resulting in financial losses for the government.

Based on a complaint from a district collectorate officer, an FIR was filed against Langa at the Sector 7 police station in Gandhinagar on Wednesday night.

According to the FIR, Langa is facing charges of accepting gratification, breach of trust, and engaging in unlawful trade as a public servant. It is alleged that he misused his position to benefit himself and his associates by granting non-agricultural land use permissions illegally.

SK Langa has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 409 (criminal breach of trust in respect of property as a public servant), 168 (unlawfully engaging in trade as a public servant), 193 (punishment for false trade), 196 (using as genuine evidence known to be false), 465 (forgery), and others.

Additionally, he has been booked under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which deal with criminal misconduct through the acceptance of gratification (13 (1) (a), 13 (1) (b)), the police said.

During the investigation conducted by retired IAS officer Vinay Vyas, who served as the special investigation officer, it was revealed that SK Langa and his accomplices had orchestrated a fraudulent scheme by illegally issuing non-agricultural land use permissions. The investigation focused on SK Langa’s tenure as the collector, which lasted from April 6, 2018, to September 30, 2019. A total of 5,904 files were examined.

It was discovered that initially, the files were rejected due to minor faults. However, after financial settlements were made with the parties involved, the files were later approved. This led to significant financial losses for the government in numerous cases where non-agricultural (NA) permissions were granted. Approvals were given without proper verification of evidence, as individuals who were not engaged in farming were falsely categorized as farmers. DeshGujarat