BDA officials booked for taking Rs 1.70 cr bribe from homemaker

Bengaluru: An FIR has been registered against the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) Deputy Commissioner and two others for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 1.70 crore and cheating a homemaker after promising to get a compensation for the land acquired by the authority, police said on Wednesday. Hema S. Raju, the 45-year old homemaker and a resident of Jayanagar, has lodged a complaint against BDA Deputy Commissioner Shivaraj, BDA officer Mahesh Kumar and broker Mohan Kumar with the R.T. Nagar police station.

The complainant has alleged that the accused Mohan Kumar had even threatened to get her killed by hired killers if she continued to make phone calls to him.

Hema had been approaching BDA for a compensation amount for her 2.34 acre land in Hennur and Srirampura localities of Bengaluru, acquired for development of Arkavathi Layout in 2013. She said that the accused officer Mahesh Kumar told her that another accused Shivaraj had kept her files pending and got him transferred from the Land Acquisition.

Mahesh Kumar further told her that if she wanted her work done, he should again get the same posting. He also told her that for doing that they will have to talk to Mohan Kumar, a broker.

Accordingly, the complainant met Mohan Kumar in January, 2020. He demanded Rs 1.50 crore bribe to get the compensation amount released. She gave Rs 50 lakh bribe the same day, the complainant said in her plea.

She said after this Mahesh Kumar was transferred to the Land Acquisition department to facilitate the movement of her files. BDA Deputy Commissioner Shivaraj had taken Rs 20 lakh as bribe at this period, she said.

"The three accused got a total amount of Rs 1.10 crore from me in instalments.