JOIN USLokayukta unearths Rs 107 crore fraud in KIADB
A few KIADB senior officials and some private persons were involved in the racket, causing crores of rupees loss to the State exchequer, said the Lokayukta officers.
The sleuths raided residences of Bangalore East taluk special deputy commissioner Anil Kumar; assistant commissioner K B Chikkabettaiah, who is currently on deputation to the Gas Authority of India Limited; KIADB special land acquisition officer Nagaraj; KIADB special land acquisition officer H S Ramakrishna; KIADB retired officer Muninarayanappa; and broker Santosh. Nagaraj, who was trapped in a bribery case, has been kept under suspension. They seized cash from the residences of Anil Kumar (Rs seven lakh), Mr H S Ramakrishna (Rs 4.5 lakh) and Chikkabettaiah (Rs three lakh).
The Lokayukta sleuths have registered cases under section 13 (1) (C) and (D) of Prevention of Corruption Act and under sections 465, 462, 471 and 420 of the Indian
Penal Code.
"It is just a beginning involving three industrial areas. Such activities involving several crores of rupees in the KIADB cannot be ruled out. Things will unfold soon," said Lokayukta justice N Santosh Hegde.
KIADB officers and private persons allegedly fabricated records and distributed compensation. In some cases, compensation was disbursed to the same person twice, while in some others, compensation was given to dead as well. In some instances, compensation was given to those whose names did not figure in the list at all.
Background:
The KIADB had acquired 3,268.10 acre (1,648.28 acre owned by government and 1,507.20 acre from private parties) to set up Special Economic Zones for Aerospace, Information Technology and hardware parks at Jala hobli in Devanahalli taluk. Compensation disbursal process began in 2005 and is still in progress.
Five KAS officers have served as KIADB Bangalore special land acquisition office-2 (SLO-2) till date. All these officers are allegedly involved in the scam. Muninarayanappa opted for voluntary retirement after serving in the SLO-2 from November 2005 to March 2009. The maximum amount of Rs 42.86 crore was disbursed as compensation during his tenure.
Another Rs 60 crore was disbursed by other four officers. The then managers of SLO-2, Shankaraiah and Kenchaiah and present manager N Lakshmi and case workers Byregowda, Nagabhushan, Mahalingaiah, the then case workers Siddaiah and Ramachandra and a few officials of the revenue department were also involved in the scam, said the sleuths.
A few persons had set records in Devanahalli taluk office pertaining to land in Jala hobli on fire. Some private persons and officers used the opportunity and indulged in illegal disbursal of compensation, added the sleuths.
How it came to light
The Lokayukta officers trapped Nagaraj, while he was allegedly receiving bribe on June 28, 2010 and recovered important records from him. The team found out that the illegal disbursal took place in 167 cases when they closely examined the records. They registered criminal cases and raided their residences accordingly.