HARIPUR, July 11: An elderly widow was deprived of her agriculture land, measuring 93.7 kanal, by a resident of Gandaf village with the connivance of a local councillor and area Patwari, some 45km from Tarbela.

The land scam was unearthed when Ms Yousuf Sultan, widow of Sardar Bahadur Shah, disclosed the matter before the deputy district officer (revenue), Haripur, a couple of days back.

The widow told the DDO that in October last when she had fallen ill, Salim Khan, a councillor, urged her to visit the city hospital for treatment.

After bringing her to Haripur, Salim took the widow to the office of District Baitul Maal, where Abdul Rasheed, son of Ghulam Rabbani, was present with some other people.

“They asked me to sign a court paper, stating that it was a form on the basis of which I could get medical treatment at the hospital free of cost,” Yousuf Sultan said.

After getting the paper signed, they took her to a hospital and got her medicines after a medical checkup, the widow said. She said after a couple of days, she was told that the 93.7 kanal land in her name had been transferred to some other people.

She visited the office of sub-registrar, Haripur, now knowing fully well that the paper Abdul Rasheed had got signed from her was in fact a power of attorney on the basis of which he transferred the land in the name of his relative Saidur Rehman showing it as a gift mutation (Hibba Tamleeq) from her.