JOIN USLokayukta registers FIR against seer
The Lokayukta police on Tuesday registered a first information report (FIR) against Balagangadharanatha Swami of the Adichunchanagiri Mutt and others, charging them with land-grabbing, forgery and criminal conspiracy.
The Lokayukta court on June 12 had handed over the investigation to the Lokayukta police under Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The police report is expected on July 13.
The complaint, filed by C Lakshminarayana, ex-councillor of Hulimavu village and trustee and secretary of Ramalingeshwara Swamy Temple Trust, also names IAS officers Veerabhadraiah, Ramegowda and M K Aiyappa and 21 others in the case.
It states that Ramalingeshwara Temple in Hulimavu had been granted 15 acres and 31 guntas in 1981 and 1985 after imposing certain grant conditions.
Additional land allotted
In 1990, an additional 10 guntas at Hulimavu in Begur hobli was allotted to temple to sink borewells as the immediate land around it was rocky.
The complaint alleged that some people had created a trust in the temple’s name and negotiated a sale of the trust property with the Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Mutt.
The complaint further alleged that documents were created stating that the Ramalingeshwara Trust was entrusting the property over to the Adichunchanagiri Maha Samsthana Mutt.
By virtue of that letter, 15 acres and 31 guntas were transferred in 1997.
This transfer was also done on the basis of a government order issued by under-secretary, Revenue Department, even though the grant was govered by a no-transfer condition.
Meanwhile, Mariyappa Swami, who claimed to be the president of Ramalingeshwara Trust, created documents and effected the transfer of land and aided the Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Mutt. Subsequently, the Revenue Department mutated the property to Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Mutt.
Later, the 10 guntas of land granted by the government to sink borewells were sold by the mutt to Mariyappa Swami as if it was their personal property, the complaint stated.
This amounted to wrongful gain and maladministration of the trust property, it said.
One of the grant conditions was that there was no provision to alienate the property and hence there could be no sale or lease of the land.
The mutt occupied the land without any authority and started unauthorised construction around the temple in the name of an educational institution.
They also obtained a no-objection certificate to start BGS National Public School. They forged a sanction plan from Bommanahalli CMC to support their construction around the temple, the complaint alleged.