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LUCKNOW: In an unprecedented move, Section 144 of the CrPC has been imposed in the consolidation commissioner office at Indira Bhawan in Lucknow. The step was taken after employees and even principal secretary, revenue, Rajnish Dubey , were openly threatened by influential persons whose illegally occupied land was seized by the government.

Dubey was even threatened by officials of the consolidation department who allegedly are hand-in-glove with powerful land mafia.

The revenue department had unleashed a crackdown on the land mafia, including politicians, ex-ministers, MLAs and government officials, who were in illegal possession of government land and had even built schools, colleges, brick furnaces, etc.

"In the past six months, government land worth over Rs 100 crore has been reclaimed from tainted politicians, their kin and some officers also," Dubey told TOI. "This was not possible without taking on tainted officials of the department, who had been sitting over files for years. In retaliation, they threatened me and my staff, abused us on the social media and even locked the offices of consolidation department," he added.

