Police grill MUDA official over RTI activist's murder

 Police took six people into custody in connection with the death of RTI activist Srinath, whose body was found near Ganjam in Srirangapatna, Mandya district on Friday. Srinath, who had unearthed the BEML Employees Housing Society scam, had been reported missing since Thursday.

Police took four office-bearers of the society, an official of the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and his car driver for investigation on Saturday. Srinath had unearthed various scams of the society in connection with the development of Rajarajeshwari Layout in the city.

Srinath and his family had been residing at Rajarajeshwari Layout developed by the society since 2008. The society had allotted the sites without providing basic amenities such as drinking water, streetlights and roads. Even after repeated petitions to the society, the authorities failed to provide facilities and Srinath had obtained related documents about the layout from MUDA under RTI Act, said his brother Srinivas.

Srinath brought to light anomalies like illegal allotment of sites, land encroachment and others through the documents he had procured. The society had obtained 105 acres of land from MUDA by providing fake documents and had encroached agriculture lands which were not acquired by the government. Srinath launched a legal fight against the society, said Srinivas.

Srinath’s friend Lokesh said site registration and transfer of site documents had stopped after Srinath launched the legal fight. Srinath provided documents to farmers who approached the court, questioning the encroachment of their land by the society. Lokesh said the society office-bearers had approached Srinath several times for a compromise and had also offered him three sites free of charge.