Police ordered to file chargesheet against BJP MLA

The Special Lokayukta Court on Monday directed the Lokayukta police to file a chargesheet against BJP MLA from Dasarahalli S Muniraju, as the police have received sanction from the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to prosecute him.

Lokayukta DySP H S Manjunath has been directed by the court to submit the chargesheet by July 13. Sanction has been provided to the two Revenue department officials, Ranganath and Suresh, by the Revenue Secretary, while Speaker K G Bopaiah sanctioned the prosecution of the MLA after seeking clarification from the investigating officer twice.

The Lokayukta police on March 9 had submitted a final report stating that the allegations of fabricating documents for the purpose of land grabbing and misuse of power had been proved. Substantial evidence for prosecuting Muniraju under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Corruption Act have been gathered, they had stated.

The case

Puttaswamy, a resident of Kereguddadahalli in Yeshwantpur hobli, had filed a private complaint alleging that Muniraju fabricated documents to secure one acre 15 guntas of land belonging to Mallamma, his mother-in-law.

According to the complaint, the government had acquired the land from Mallamma and
the latter approached the High Court challenging acquisition. A Division Bench of the High Court ruled in favour of Mallamma in 2007 and directed the government to return the land.

The complaint says that Muniraju prevented Mallamma from obtaining the mutation of the land in her favour from the office of the tahsildar, Bangalore North. In 2009, Nagaraj, who owned one acre of land adjacent to that of Mallamma, sold one acre 28 guntas to three others using fake documents. Keshavamurthy, one of the purchasers, in turn sold 30 guntas to Muniraju. An attempt was also made to transfer 37 guntas of land to Parmeshwarappa and Rajamma.

Muniraju also sold nine guntas of the non-existent land to one Pushpa. Using false documents, Muniraju, Parameshwarappa and Rajamma attempted to get mutation for Mallamma’s land. But Revenue Inspector Ramesh rejected the application as he found something suspicious in the document. Ramesh was transferred, and his successor Suresh began processing Muniraju’s application. Puttaswamy, who got wind of the plan, approached the Assistant Commissioner and obtained a stay on the proceedings.