Govt. land records found in private farmhouse, probe ordered into ‘land scam’
Karnataka Lokayukta officials raided a private farmhouse and seized hundreds of original government land records, uncovering a major land scam. The investigation suggests a nexus between revenue officials and private individuals to forge documents for illegal land grants.
Why it matters
This case highlights systemic corruption in land administration, which can lead to significant financial losses for the state and legal disputes for property owners.
Recent raids by the Karnataka Lokayukta found a huge cache of government land revenue records pertaining to Kolar district at a private person’s farmhouse, leading to a suo motu case being taken up. Probing allegations of fake documents being created to falsely establish grants over government land, involving a senior survey supervisor, the Lokayukta raided several premises, including the farmhouse of a friend of the prime accused in Hoskote, where government documents were found.
During the searches, investigators seized 435 documents, including 128 original government records, such as grant registers, patta books, khata registers, podi records, and other land revenue documents. Officials suspect that the original records had been illegally removed from government offices and stored at a private farmhouse to facilitate the creation of forged land records.
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