KANPUR, May 14 -- A former additional district magistrate (ADM), officials of two power companies and executives of three nationalised banks have been booked in an alleged Rs 400-crore land fraud in Kanpur Dehat, the state government statement read on Tuesday. The FIR, registered at Moosanagar police station on a complaint filed by Bhognipur tehsildar Priya Singh, follows a directive from chief minister Yogi Adityanath after the district administration discovered that government land had been mortgaged to banks without state approval, the statement added. The case centres on roughly 2,332 acres across seven villages in the Bhognipur area, allotted in 2011 to two different power companies for a thermal plant. The companies were required to begin construction within three years. Fifteen years on, the land sits idle. Instead of building the plant, the companies allegedly colluded with the then-additional district magistrate (land acquisition) to mortgage the government land and secure loans worth Rs 1,500 crore from three different banks. Neither was the plant built, nor were the loans repaid. The fraud came to light when the banks moved to auction the land. District magistrate Kapil Singh intervened, halted the sale and ordered an inquiry. That investigation established the involvement of the former ADM and bank officials, after which the state government directed that a case be registered under sections related to forgery and criminal conspiracy, the statement read. The land, which includes both Gram Samaj holdings and privately acquired parcels in villages including Chparaghata, Kripalpur, Bhunda, Rasulpur and Bhartauli, is currently valued at over Rs 300 crore at circle rates. Its market value is considerably higher. The state government has described the action as consistent with its zero-tolerance policy on corruption....