The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested former BBMP assistant engineer (Mahadevapura zone) Krishnalal, the prime prime accused in the Transferable Development Rights (TDR) scam for road widening projects that rocked the BBMP earlier this year. He had been on the run and had taken 47 files with him, said ACB officials who have been on his trail for the last six months.
The project involved the widening of a stretch of road between T.C. Palya and Outer Ring Road (ORR). Krishnalal, an executive engineer with the Public Works Department (PWD), was posted in the BBMP during 2013-15 when he issued TDR in this particular case.
According to the ACB, he had forged documents to include fake beneficiaries.
He absconded after the court rejected his request for anticipatory bail.
While investigating the case, the ACB found that the price of a property, acquired by the civic body, was inflated to benefit a former owner who had sold the land more than a decade ago. This was done by issuing more TDR than warranted.
The land under the scanner is a six-acre 22 gunta plot in Kowdanahalli, which the landlord developed into a revenue layout and sold in the early 2000s. However, revenue records (RTC) remained in the name of the landlord.
A preliminary investigation by the ACB revealed that the TDR was not issued to the present owners, but to the one who had sold the land. The BBMP was unable to widen the road as the present owners refused to give up the properties as they did not receive compensation.
Sources within the ACB said that the files recovered will reveal whether more such scams were perpetrated.
