Brazen land grab attempt at BWSSB pumping station

In a scene that seemed straight out of a film, over 10 people barged into a BWSSB pumping station in Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, demolished the compound wall with an earthmover and built a shed in its place — all at lightning speed — on Thursday.

Raju, a security guard at the pumping station, called up Raghu R, the BWSSB’s assistant executive engineer for the Koramangala valley subdivision, around 8.30 am about the group’s brazen action. When Raghu and other officials arrived around 10 am, the compound wall had disappeared and the shed had come up.

Claiming the land was their ancestral property, the group said they were taking possession of it. When officials sought the land papers, they said their lawyer had them.

Police later evicted the crowd and booked them for causing damage to government property, trespassing and unlawful assembly.

The suspects are Anand, a local water dealer, his family members and friends Tejendra, Suraj, Krishnappa, Santosh and Kushal.

Police say the land was allotted to the water board by the BDA. The pumping station was set up 20 years ago but had become defunct in recent years. The BWSSB is now building a sewage treatment plant there.

Police said someone misguided Anand that his brother had won a court case over the land. So he wanted to occupy the land before his brother to get his share. But he doesn’t have any documents.