A saga of frauds

Few could show the maturity of B K Manju, who at a very tender age seems to have realised his destiny. Hardly a 10-year-old in 1985, Manju got a ‘cultivation chit’ (saguvali chiti) from the State Government for farming on four acres of Government land at Boilahalli. Not just him, his father B R Krishnappa, mother Komalamma and his sister Chandrakala too got similar permit for four acres of Government land each.

The permit in Manju’s possession may make people extol his dedication and hard work but only till the other side of the story is revealed. As per rule, a person is not entitled to cultivation permit unless he/she attains the age of 18. There were other poor farmers who were farming on government land for many years unauthorisedly, but they could not get a saguvali chiti.

An investigation has shown that Manju and many others tampered the records at the tahsildar’s office and created fake documents to fraudulently grab compensation from the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board.

Investigations carried out by the Lokayukta police suggest that Manju, a confidant of former IT-BT Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu, is just a small pawn in the multi-crore and multi-acre KIADB scam, whose alleged masterminds are Naidu and his BBMP corporator-son, Katta Jagadish.

The sum involved in the scam is somewhere close to Rs 1,000 crore, say people privy to the investigation, while initial leads show that Rs 300 crore of government money was swindled.

The modus operandi is amazing. During the coalition government led by the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Katta, as Industries and Commerce Minister, and his henchmen, allegedly floated a bogus firm called Itasca Software Development Company with a total capital of just Rs one lakh.

The company was shown on records as existing somewhere in the United States. The firm had applied to the KIADB for acquiring 325 acres in Devanahalli. Subsequently, a hunt began for the land in and around Bandikodigenahalli and vast tracts belonging to some 100 farmers were chosen for acquisition.

Before the KIADB could go ahead with the acquisition of land, Katta and his company had reportedly approached many farmers to give their land to them. While there was some government land, too, there were farmers who had their private land. The KIADB agreed to pay a compensation ranging between Rs 32 lakh and Rs 41 lakh an acre whereas the former minister and company agreed to pay them somewhere between Rs 18 lakh and Rs 23 lakh  an acre.

They allegedly took blank cheques from the farmers in advance. When the KIADB deposited money into the account of the farmers, the fraudsters withdrew it using the blank cheques.

The KIADB was supposed to get Rs 150 crore from Itasca, but instead, a telecom firm - United Telecom - paid the amount to the KIADB and also allegedly paid kickbacks to the minister and his son. The Lokayukta police have registered cases against Katta Subramanya Naidu under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code.

Barely a few months ago, Naidu’s son Jagadish was arrested by the Lokayukta police when he was trying to subvert the prime witness in the case, Ramanjanappa. The Katta episode has proved to be a trial by fire for Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who himself is embroiled in controversies relating to land deals.

Ramanjanappa, who brought the scam to the fore, says he wrote several letters to officials and staged demonstrations but such acts yielded no result. Finally, he approached the Lokayukta. According to Ramanjanappa, many more skeletons will tumble out of the KIADB cupboard. He says the Lokayukta charge-sheet would be full of shocks and surprises.

Chronicling the land loot

The saga of irregularities in KIADB with respect to land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ) proposed by Itasca dates back to 2004, when family members of Katta Subramanya Naidu began purchasing land around Bandikodigenahalli in Jala hobli.  Since then a series of murky deals have left poor farmers cheated, while the rich benefited.

Here is a glance of how events unfolded and forced Naidu to quit as minister in the Yeddyurappa cabinet.

2004 

*Family members and associates of Katta Subramanya Naidu, who have been into real estate business for many years, purchased considerable extent of land in and around Bandikodigenahalli in 2004. According to farmers of the village, they paid farmers  between Rs 4 to Rs 12 lakh per acre.

2006 

*Katta becomes Minister for Industries in the JD(S)-BJP combine regime in 2006. The special economic zone project proposed by Itasca Software Development Ltd gets approval.

2007 

*KIADB allots 325 acres near Bandikodigenahalli for the project. Itasca submits letters of consent ‘obtained’ from farmers to part with their land. 

KIADB fixes Rs 40 lakh for land adjacent to main road and Rs 31 lakh for the rest. Katta
allegedly receives bribe of Rs 87 crore.

2008 

*Itasca paid Rs 134 crore to KIADB for the land, whereas the market price of the property in that area is over Rs 1,000 crore. Awarding compensation began in April 2008.

2009

*Complaints of irregularities in awarding compensation reach Department of Industries and Commerce. Apolice case was filed in Bagalur. No action was taken.

2010

*He Lokayukta police unearth the scam. They file criminal cases against three KIADB officers. The police unearth the role of Katta Subramanya Naidu and his son Katta Jagadish in the whole affair. An FIR is filed against Katta.