With the real estate prices in city skyrocketing, efforts to usurp sites and government land by hook or by crook are on too, despite several precautionary measures taken up by the MUDA.

Here is an incident of a person trying to acquire a corner site in Jayalakshmipuram, measuring 110x120 ft, by not paying a single paisa to MUDA but by merely paying Rs. 27,540 in an auction. The matter came to light when a citizen named B.N. Nagendra applied for information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. It is said that he took interest in digging out information about the site after an acquaintance of his disclosed about the fraudulent deal.

Thanks to the efforts of MUDA Secretary Basavaraju who made meticulous investigations of the documents, the MUDA property worth several crores was saved from being usurped.

The site is in Jayalakshmipuram, which was formed about 40 years ago. It is a corner site off the road leading to The Green Hotel on Hunsur road. The site bears the number 23/A, having site number 23 towards the east, another site on the north and roads on the western and southern sides.

The fraud was committed by Raju, 60, a resident of Paduvarahalli 2nd Main, Door No. 54. He is said to have forged the signature of MUDA Zone 4 Special Tahasildar Devaraj and also used a duplicate rubber stamp for the fake documents.

The truth is that no auction was held for site no. 23/A. However, the accused Raju is said to have created fake documents that claimed that he had purchased the site in an auction for Rs. 27,540 on Jan. 3, 1979. A title-deed for the site was prepared at Zone 4 office under Form-2 (5) in Kannada dated Jan.2, 2013.

The site, for which fake documents were prepared in January, was registered three months later — that is on Mar. 22, 2013, at 4.30 pm, at the Sub-Registrar’s office in MUDA. It is said that the letter written by Special Tahasildar Devaraj to the Sub-Registrar to get the site registered was also forged.

Soon after the fraudulent deal came to the fore, MUDA Secretary Basavaraju placed a signboard at the site four days ago, stating that the land belonged to the MUDA. A complaint was lodged at the Lakshmipuram Police Station yesterday.

It is surprising that the title-deed for the site was prepared despite any auction conducted by the MUDA, no application submitted, no notes written by the officials concerned and no entry made about cash payment. The Police have launched a hunt for the accused who is at large.

Courtesy : Star Of Mysore