As Rajarhat land scandal rolls out gradually each day, I suspect it's the biggest land scam to have ever happened in India since independence. The land mafia, active in the area long since, have grabbed land from the poor and marginalised by force - in many cases on gun point. It is hard to believe that the Government(Oh,the Marxists!)did not know about these activities.
The scam could be of thousands of crores.
It seems it started modestly since the regime of Jyoti Basu. Basu had special fondness for some Marwari businessman who were friends of his son Chandan.Kamal Gandhi seemed to be the kingpin, but later Rajkishore Modi and others took over.
Gaffar Molla, the main accused in the Vedic village incident, was on Modi's pay-roll. Modi paid him 20k every month for his services. In just two years' time, Gaffar earned two crores as cut money from his armtwisting land deals.
Behind Gaffar, there are lots of other men with brains and strategies who have earned many times over. Ministers, bereaucrats, land dept officials..
It's significant that the government has cancelled the Rajarhat IT project overnight. Sure, it wants to hush up, but the spillage continues and the people are knowing it all.
What a shame for the Marxists!
