The chairman of Bengaluru Development Authority said that a case has been registered. (Representative)
Bangalore:
BDA chairman SR Vishwanath said some officials of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) were booked on Saturday for replacing prime land acquired by the authority with another parcel of property, causing a loss of Rs 100 crore.
Mr Vishwanath, who is also the Yelahanka MLA from the city, said in a statement that the officials colluded with a Nagraj. However, he did not name the officials involved in the alleged fraud and did not mention the number of officers.
He said a case was registered with the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) on Saturday based on the BDA task force’s report detailing the massive irregularities in the deal.
BMTF is a special police setup in Karnataka that has been set up in Bengaluru for the protection and security of government property.
Mr. Vishwanath said that the BDA had acquired about 4.3 acres of land in 1983 from a person Eranna in village Banaswadi in Bengaluru East taluk and the amount was deposited in the civil court.
“However, Nagaraj obtained a General Power of Attorney (GPA) from Iranna, showed it as his land, made a layout and sold them. Meanwhile, the BDA acquired land from the revenue landowners and went to court. Filed an application saying that alternate sites are to be given to them,” the BDA president said.
The Karnataka High Court, which heard the matter, directed the BDA to take a decision in accordance with the rules, Mr. Vishwanath said.
The BJP MLA said that Nagraj transferred all the plots in his name and applied for clearance of alternate sites in his name, but the BDA board rejected his plea saying it could not be done.
In a meeting in 2012, the BDA board decided to give 4.3 acres of land in various survey numbers in Arkavati Layout, constituted by the BDA.
Further, he again filed an application to the BDA to give an alternative site, stating that several areas of the land are in the buffer zone, making it impossible to build a house, the MLA said.
No construction activity is allowed in the buffer zone.
“The BDA accepted his plea in 2014, gave parcels of land in Thanisandra and several other prominent places in the name of Nagaraj and registered the property in his name,” Mr. Vishwanath said.
Terming it as a “mega scam”, the BDA president said that he has directed the BDA task force to scrutinize all the documents.
BDA Task Force Deputy Superintendent of Police P Ravi Kumar and his team submitted the report and said that there have been large-scale irregularities in this case, due to which the BDA has suffered a loss of about Rs 100 crore.
The BDA task force lodged a complaint with the BMTF to take action against Nagraj and other BDA officials involved in the case.
“An inspector of BMTF has registered a case and started investigation,” Vishwanath said in the statement.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)