Acquisition of B'luru land in 2000: Supreme Court stays Karnataka HC's order for CBI probe

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the Karnataka High Court's order which directed for a CBI probe into alleged criminal conspiracy entered by state officials and private individuals into acquisition of over 50 acres of land proposed in Bengaluru in early 2000 for use of then a non existent entity, M/s Lakeview Tourism Corporation.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran ordered status quo into the matter, after hearing Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and advocate Nishanth Patil on behalf of the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board and senior advocate Shyam Divan for the Karnataka government.

The court issued notice to the private respondents on whose plea the High Court's judgment was delivered on April 10, 2026, also quashing the entire acquisition proceedings with Rs 10 lakh cost to be paid by the private entity.

Acting on a batch of writ appeals, a division bench of Justices D K Singh and Tara Vitasta Ganju held that the entire exercise of acquiring the land for a non existent entity was nothing but a monumental fraud committed by the authorities in criminal conspiracy with the applicant and the Directors of Lakeview Development Corporation Private Limited, which was incorporated only in the year 2011.

"This was a fraud on statute to deprive the landowners of their valuable property for pittance on behest of a non-existent entity. As the State instrumentality itself was involved in criminal conspiracy with the private individuals, we need to get this matter investigated by an independent agency for the crime committed by the persons including the State Government officials and the private individuals,'' the bench said.

The court ordered registration of a criminal case by the Central Bureau of Investigation for investigation of the offences bringing to the book the persons of the government machinery as well as the private individuals who were involved in this statutory and constitutional fraud.  

The non-existent entity, which promised to commence its operation with effect from December 31, 2001, by employing 2,000 people, was found to have a net worth of Rs 8.60 lakh in the financial year 2022-23.

In 2011, the entity came to be incorporated in the Memorandum of Association, and disclosed that the promoters of the entity were Sushil Mantri and Snehal Mantri. None of the promoters, whose background was given with the application in 2000 as promoters or shareholders of Lakeview Development Corporation Private Limited, was a part of it.