The woes of BJP legislator of Siruguppa taluk in Bellary, M S Somalingappa could be far from over, as there is yet another complaint against his family for acquiring land under false premises.
The MLA is currently under investigation by the Lokayukta police for possessing assets disproportionate to his income, undervaluing his property and also for not declaring his entire property during his declaration of assets to the Lokayukta. The private complaint in the Lokayukta Court had been filed by B Eranna, a retired lecturer.
However, another complaint was filed with the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Bellary in January 2012 by Eranna, stating that Mareppa, Somalingappa’s brother-in-law, had purchased 25 acres and 19 guntas of land in Halekote village of Siruguppa taluk in July 2007 from Chamundeshwari Bai, the wife of D R Raghavendra Rao.
According to the registered documents obtained by Eranna under Right to Information Act (RTI), Chamundeshwari acquired the land after the death of her husband Raghavendra.
Yet Raghavendra’s age at the time of the purchase of this land in 1945 was said to be 55 years. If that was the case, then Chamundeshwari’s age should have been at least 100 years at the time of land sale to Mareppa in 2007.
Eranna, in his complaint had also stated that the couple had been childless and hence this land should have actually belonged to the government.
But the sale deed in favour of Mareppa mentioned Chamundeshwari’s age as 55 years. Following the complaint, the DC of Bellary initiated an inquiry by the tahsildar of Siruguppa. The tahsildar in his report to the DC, stated that they were unable to trace Chamundeshwari at the address in Hyderabad provided in the sale deed and an RTI application by the complainant to the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation had proved it to be a false address.
Mareppa, in his statement to the tahsildar, claimed that there was a mistake in the sale deed and that Chamundeshwari Bai was not the wife, but the daughter of Raghavendra Rao. However the tahsildar clearly states that no such relationship could be established in the ‘pahani’ records, which clearly state that Chamundeshwari was indeed the wife of Raghavendra Rao.
Mareppa further claimed that he was being persecuted as he was related to the MLA and this was merely a political vendetta.
The tahsildar surmised that even if Chamundeshwari were to be the daughter of Raghavendra, she would be at least 85-90 years old in 2007 and not 55 years as mentioned in the sale deed.
He concluded that there was prima facie evidence that the seller of the property was an impersonator, but could not be clearly established.
Meanwhile, at the time of completion of the tahsildar’s inquiry, Mareppa approached the High Court seeking a stay on the inquiry. The High Court circuit bench in Dharwad has granted an interim stay on the inquiry.