Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh): In a major crackdown on illegal properties, the Saharanpur district administration is set to attach illegal assets worth Rs 506 crore of mining mafia and former BSP MLC Haji Iqbal. The district administration along with the police have identified these properties in Lucknow, Saharanpur and Noida.
Iqbal, who is currently absconding has several cases including gangrape, illegal mining, fraud and land grab against him. He has a reward of Rs 1 lakh on him.
Iqbal alias Balla, a resident of village Mirzapur Pol in Saharanpur, was an MLC in the BSP government and after completion of his tenure, his younger brother Mahmood Ali was made MLC reportedly by money power. Iqbal's status was equivalent to a minister in the BSP regime and sentries used to come to his place to mark attendance. Also, red and blue beacon fitted cars used to be parked outside his residence. Even during the tenure of Akhilesh Yadav, Iqbal had access to the secretariat and the ministries.
When BJP's Yogi Adityanath's government came to power in 2017, the mining mafia's misdeeds were brought to the fore. One after another, a total of 45 cases were registered against Iqbal, his sons Abdul Wajid, Javed, Mohd Afzal and Alishan and brother under the gangster act and on charges of illegal mining, land grab, rape and attack. Investigations into illegal properties were started and CBI and ED are investigating the cases separately.
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District Magistrate Dr Dinesh Chandra and SSP Dr Vipin Tada said that joint teams of police and administration have identified illegal properties of Iqbal in Lucknow, Noida and Saharanpur. Effort is being taken to attach all the illegal properties, he said.
Iqbal's four sons and brother are already in jail in various cases but Iqbal is untraceable. To prevent Iqbal and his family members from escaping from the country, their passports have been confiscated, police said.
