Five persons, including two engineers with the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB), have been taken into custody by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on charges of embezzlement of money.
The accused are M.B. Somashekar, Assistant Executive Engineer, KHB, Mysuru; M. Mahesh, Assistant Engineer, KHB, Mysuru; and three middlemen identified as Jnaneshwar and Vijakumar of Rajarajaeshwari Nagar, Bengaluru; and N.B. Vasu of Naganahalli village, Yelwal hobli, Mysuru district.
Money swindled
A release said the charges pertained to swindling of money during land acquisition by the KHB for a housing and development project at Gungral Chatra and Yelchanahalli near Yelwal close to Mysuru.
The government and the KHB had acquired 81 acres of land in 2008 and 2009 at the rate of ₹36.5 lakh per acre and had incurred a net cost of ₹31 crore towards land acquisition from the farmers.
Lokayukta probe
Based on complaints of irregularities in land acquisition and payment of compensation, the government handed over the case to the Lokayukta. It transpired that the KHB officials connived with middlemen and siphoned off a portion of the amount due to the farmers as compensation in lieu of land acquired from them.
The ACB registered a case based on the findings of the Lokayukta and arrested the five accused on Monday. They were produced in court and the middlemen were remanded in judicial custody, while the two engineers were remanded in police custody, the release added.
