Land scam: Accused ex-district registrar gets bail

Hamsaveni had allegedly tried to usurp Wadiyar's property

The High Court has granted bail to L G Hamsaveni, former district registrar and deputy commissioner for Stamps and Registration, who is facing charges of attempting to usurp prime property worth Rs 30 crore, belonging to the late scion of Mysore, Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar.

Hamsaveni, fearing arrest by the Lokayukta police had been absconding since June 5, when Lokayukta police filed an FIR regarding the issue.

Following the complaint, Hamsaveni had approached the third additional district and sessions court (Lokayukta Special Court) seeking anticipatory bail, which was turned down by the Court. She later approached the High Court, which granted her bail, recently.

Meanwhile, the Lokayukta police had failed to arrest the accused during the past four months. Lokayukta SP, Jagadish Prasad said that investigation of the case was under progress, with the police collecting documentary evidence regarding the case. “A report will be submitted to the court, as soon as investigation is complete,” he said.

The alleged fraudulent deal came to light, after a Mysore based lawyer Chandrashekar lodged a complaint with Upa-lokayukta, Subash B Adi, in the month of March 2014. Following this, six persons, including Hamsaveni were booked under various sections of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, in the month of June.

Case
Sub-registrar (Mysore-East), Girish, one of the accused in the case, had registered the confirmation deed in relation to a site measuring 200x250 ft (50,000 sq ft) in Survey No 1, Kasaba hobli along M G Road in Mysore.

Even though the site was owned by Wadiyars, accused number one of the case, Sundar, had earlier sought the confirmation deed, claiming that he had obtained the property as gift deed from erstwhile ruler, Jayachamaraja Wadiyar.

Meanwhile, Sundar had also obtained the khata of the property from Zone 9 office of Mysore City Corporation, before applying for the registration of the confirmation deed in December 2013.

To complete the process, Girish had claimed that he had personally met the late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar in Bangalore on December 3 and Mysore on December 7, just three days prior the latter's death on December 10.

Girish had then adduced the signature and thumb impression of Wadiyar obtained during the meeting in Mysore, thus facilitating the transfer of ownership of the property to Sundar.

However, during investigation, the Mysore Palace authorities strongly denied that Wadiyar was in Bangalore or Mysore at that time.