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50 IAS and IPS Officers Collectively Bought Land Near Bhopal, Then Approved a ₹3,200 Crore Bypass Through It, Then Rezoned It Residential. Land Value Rose 11x.

31 August 2023 - Guradi Ghat, Kolar, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Record date
31 Aug 2023
Location
Guradi Ghat, Kolar, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
The odd part

Approximately 50 IAS and IPS officers — from five different state cadres plus Delhi — jointly purchased agricultural land in Bhopal in April 2022. The Cabinet approved a ₹3,200 crore Western Bypass through the area 16 months later. The land was then reclassified from agricultural to residential. The value went from ₹5.5 crore to ₹65 crore. No conflict of interest has been officially established.

What happened

In April 2022, around 50 IAS and IPS officers from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, and Delhi collectively purchased agricultural land in Guradi Ghat village, Kolar area, Bhopal. Sixteen months later, in August 2023, the Cabinet approved the ₹3,200-crore Western Bypass project — a road that would pass near the land in question. Ten months after the bypass approval, the land-use classification was changed from agricultural to residential. The property value rose from approximately ₹5.5 crore to ₹55–65 crore, an 11x increase. Though the registry listed 50 shareholders, records indicate 41 principal buyers. Officers from multiple state cadres and central postings are involved, meaning the investment club transcended both geography and department. No official inquiry has confirmed wrongdoing, which is itself a kind of answer.

Source material