Rajarajeshwarinagar MLA M. Srinivas has been booked by the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) for allegedly grabbing five acres of government land at Kaggalipura village, Uttarahalli hobli, in Bangalore South, which was meant for landless farmers.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, in the thick of his re-election campaign, allegedly sanctioned the land to his supporters as president of the Bagair Hukum Committee, said BMTF sources. The April 20 first information report (FIR) said he later got his supporters to transfer the land to him and subsequently used the influence of then Revenue Minister G. Karunakar Reddy to register the properties in his name.
The alleged malpractices came to light when Revenue Officer Umadevi conducted an inquiry based on a petition filed by C. Anand from Sunkadakatte and found that Mr. Srinivas not only ‘bought’ 25 acres of government land during his tenure as the president of the Bagair Hukum Committee but also produced fake documents to show that he was a landless farmer, apart from cornering the five acres.
The FIR also charges senior Revenue Department officials with cheating, criminal breach of trust and falsifying documents to commit an offence.
Ms. Umadevi’s inquiries revealed that in January 2009 Mr. Srinivas had sanctioned one acre of land to one Sanjeev Reddy, and two acres each to Rasool Khan and Anees Khan, all his associates, while heading the committee.
After taking over the land from his associates, Mr. Srinivas used his clout with the Special Deputy Commissioner of Bangalore to get the Revenue Department to sanction the land to him as he “was a landless farmer growing arecanut and chikoo on the [said] land by raising personal loan”.
The recommendation was then forwarded to the Revenue Department where then Deputy Secretary Geetha Ramesh considered it as a special case and forwarded the letter to the then Revenue Minister for final approval.
Based on Ms. Umadevi’s complaint, the BMTF filed an FIR against Mr. Srinivas and senior Revenue Department officials for cheating, criminal breach of trust and falsifying documents to commit an offence.
Mr. Srinivas was unavailable for comment.
