Plaint against MLA Priya Krishna over grabbing temple land

'Legislator, 52 others got 279 acres at converted illegally'

 The special court to try land-grab cases has taken up a complaint against Govindarajanagar MLA Priya Krishna and 52 others for grabbing 279 acres belonging to the Muzrai department.

The court of Karnataka Land Grabbing (Prohibition) on Saturday, issued a notice in this regard to the Bengaluru South tahsildar to produce all documents, including mutation register extract of the land in survey numbers 7-11 at Peddanapalya in Tavarekere hobli.
The next hearing has been posted to November 30.

The complaint was filed before the special court by Hemanth Raju, accusing Priya Krishna, son of Housing Minister M Krishnappa, Sarva Mangala Builders and Developers and 51 others of grabbing the land which belonged to the Ranganathaswamy temple, Srirangapatna.

‘279 acres grabbed’
“Of the 880 acres held in the name of the Ranganathaswamy temple, 279 acres at Peddanapalya village, Tavarekere, Bengaluru south, have been grabbed,” Raju has said in the complaint, submitted along with documents.

Tahsildar told to file report
The special court, after a preliminary hearing, said, “This seems to be a serious complaint. The old records submitted along with the complaint reveal that 279 acres belonged to the Ranganathaswamy temple. It is stated in the complaint that the accused, with the help of Revenue department officials, have converted the land, right through registered sale deeds and documents, by illegal means.

“However, since the entire set of documents are not available, the tahsildar is directed to submit all the documents along with a report before the next date of hearing.”
Raju, in his complaint, said that Dwarakabai Vedantam had donated 880 acres to the temple in 1939.

However, most of the land was grabbed by vested interests by creating fake documents.
D B Natesh Babu, sub-divisional officer, Bengaluru south, told DH that he would verify the records and documents related to 279 acres in Peddanapalya belonging to the temple and submit a report.

For farming purpose
“About 880 acres was donated to the temple. Later, many used it for farming purposes, while a few filed applications for regularisation.

“The land has been allotted to many over the years. Now, there are many layouts here,” he said and added that the land records had been computerised and it was not possible to produce fake documents.