FIR against six for encroaching BDA land worth over `70 cr

Bengaluru: An FIR has been registered against six persons at the Talaghattapura police station on charge of encroaching three acres and 32 guntas of land by creating fake documents. The land was worth more than Rs 70 crore acquired by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) for making a layout.

BDA officials found that the accused made plots and sold them.

On June 24, the police registered a criminal case against the family members of the original owners of the land, Munikrishnappa, Puttamma, Venkatesh, Vajrappa and the partners of Trinco Infra Pvt Ltd, Vasantakumar D and Prasad MS, who bought the land from the family and made a layout and sold the plots. They have also been charged destruction of property, fraud and trespassing.

BDA had issued a preliminary notification in 2002 to acquire 92 acres of land in survey number 7 of Manavarthe Kaval village of Uttarahalli Hobli in Bengaluru South taluk. Then the compensation was fixed and the final acquisition notification was issued.

The possession of 3.32 acres of land in Survey No. 7/15 was questioned and was found in the name of Papamma. Her children Munikrishnappa, Puttamma, Venkatesh and Vajrappa had filed an application in the High Court challenging the land acquisition. A single-judge bench of the High Court ruled in favour of the landowners. In 2019, a division bench of the High Court rejected the appeal filed by the BDA against the ruling of the single-judge bench.

The BDA filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2021 challenging the decision of the High Court division bench. The Supreme Court, which started the trial, stayed the order of the High Court division bench. Armed with the stay order, BDA officials put up a sign board in the disputed land, announcing the pending litigation in the Supreme Court relating the land acquisition.

Munikrishnappa and others sold the land illegally while the case was pending in the Supreme Court. Prasad and Vasantakumar, illegally constructed a layout in the name of Trinco Manavarthe in the land and sold the property owned by BDA to the public, BDA Banashankari Division Assistant Executive Engineer P Gangadhar alleged in the police complaint.

During inspection of the documents, it was found that a fake document was created as if the land conversion order of the land was issued by the office of the Sub-Divisional Officer, Bengaluru. While the litigation related to land acquisition was pending in the court, an application was filed with the BBMP and the account details were obtained by giving false information. BDA sources said that it was found that the BBMP officials had given permission for the construction of the layout without proper inspection.