The private petitioners sought a writ to compel disbursement of this additional compensation, while NHAI eventually challenged the resurvey and NA conversion. (File Photo/ Representative)

A flipped map, a lightning-fast non-agricultural conversion, and a land sale completed in days — what looked like routine paperwork slowly unravelled into a high-stakes land puzzle, one that the Gujarat High Court would later call a “concerted fraud” on public money.

Finding that private landowners and government authorities, including officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), “colluded to siphon off the public money in a concerted manner”, the High Court cancelled the acquisition of ‘additional land’ for the Ahmedabad –Dholera Expressway and directed the Chairman, NHAI, to initiate fresh, high-level inquiries into the conduct of erring officials.

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice D N Ray of the Gujarat High Court were hearing petitions filed by two private purchasers of…