Records of land worth `100-cr seized in ACB raid on BDA

Bengaluru: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) continued its raids at Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) on Saturday. After conducting raid on Saturday, The ACB officials had seized Rs 100 crore worth of property records.

Based on a tip off that BDA officers were indulging in huge misappropriation, over 80 ACB officials searched the offices of four deputy secretaries and five senior officers in charge of the land acquisition wing. The raid that began at 4 pm on Friday continued till night. And the raid continued on Saturday and the public were not allowed inside the office premises.

An official statement from ACB said, "During the raid, it is found that sites have been distributed illegally to people though they are not eligible. Prima facie, it is found that BDA officers and the staff, conniving with some private associations, have flouted the norms of the authority to benefit them. Several documents have been seized during the search operation."

Sources said that the BDA officers have issued documents to various persons on single property and allotted 35 sites to a private institution near KR Puram area.

The raids continued on Saturday and the BDA officers were inquired and questioned based on the evidence gathered.

The ACB team of 8 officers who arrived at the BDA office is currently under scrutiny of the DS4 (DS-4) Gita Huded office led by SP Abdul Ahmed. Inspectors Dayanand, Kumar Swamy and Niaz are conducting their investigation. BDA Deputy Secretary Gita and Suma of Land Acquistion department are questioned by the ACB team. BDA deputy secretary (DS-1) Naveen Joseph has been interrogated at the BDA office. While the inquiry at Joseph's office has almost come to an end, and he is likely to be issued a notice to attend the ACB office for further inquiries.

Speaking to Media on Saturday, BDA Chairman, SR Vishwanath said, "I have also spoken to the ACB officials and also informed them that I will provide the required documents for them. It is not just related to one property. Also creating fake documents in the name of farmers in Visveshwaraya Layout, Kempegowda layout and Arkavathy Layout they have provided documents of fake GPA holders for allotment of sites. When we are order an enquiry, it has become a habit to go get a stay from the court. I welcome this move of conducting a raid. Being a chairman of BDA, I am not able to correct the ground level staffs. I don't know where these FDA and SDA staff do business transactions. There are so many documents missing from the office, only scanned documents done during the period of Siddaiah we have got."

In bulk allotment there are so many sites alloted to others by the brokers. I have informed earlier also that there are a few illegalities in BDA. The same has been informed to the chief minister also. Yesterday, the raid should have been conducted when the brokers were present, but it was conducted during public visiting time. So not much of cash was seized by them. Till 26 Nov they have got permission to conduct an inquiry, so I have informed the staff to give required details to the ACB team," said Vishwananth.