Lokayukta police to probe plaint against Dharam, Revanna

Former CM accused of denotifying land which was sold to ex-minister’s kin.

The Special Lokayukta Court on Monday referred a private complaint - accusing former chief minister Dharam Singh and former energy minister H D Revanna of illegal denotification of land in Uttarahalli hobli - to the Lokayukta police for investigation.

The complaint has been referred to the Superintendent of Police of Lokayukta Bangalore Urban, under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. A report is expected on May 21.

The private complaint, filed by Ravi Kumar, a resident of Turuvekere in Tumkur and secretary of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Tumkur, alleged that Singh was responsible for illegal denotification of land, which was sold to Kavitha Balakrishna Gowda, the sister-in-law of then minister Revanna. Kavitha is also an accused in the complaint.

The complainant has stated that 10 acres and 17 guntas of land in Survey Nos. 22, 24/1 and 24/2 at Hosahalli of Uttarahalli hobli in Bangalore South taluk was notified by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for the construction of the Bangalore-Kanakapura main road and for the expansion of Banashankari 6th stage.

After the issue of preliminary notification, the original khatedar of the land, Gowramma, died. Following this, the property was divided among Narayanaswamy and nine others. Narayanaswamy filed objections to the notification of his land, but this was not considered by the BDA and it issued a final notification on September 9, 2003.

Later, Narayanaswamy gave a representation to Singh that his land was the subject of a writ petition and that it should be denotified.

When the chief minister’s office sought for the file and opinion, the Urban Development Department stated that denotification should not be considered till the final disposal of the writ petition. BDA was also against denotification of the land, saying it required the land.

Incidentally, BDA had also issued a note in October 2005, stating that the area was not fit for the formation of a layout.

Meanwhile, in April 2005, the landowners entered into a sale agreement with Kavitha for the sale of two acres and 20 guntas of this land.

Dharam Singh issued a denotification order on October 25, 2005 for the entire 10 acres and 17 guntas of land, without considering the objections of the Urban Development Department and without placing the matter before the denotification committee.

On December 9, 2005, Kavitha executed a sale deed for the property for Rs 50 lakh.

The property was sold to Sobha Developers by Kavitha for Rs 4 crore, a little later.

On the same day, the rest of the landowners also sold their property to Sobha Developers. The counsel for the complainant stated that Revanna was the only connection between Kavitha and Dharam Singh and he had influenced Singh to denotify the land.