Man arrested for encroaching 482 acres of forest, government land in Kengeri

Bengaluru: The Mudigere police on Tuesday arrested M B Nemannagouda alias M B Manmatha for allegedly attempting to encroach upon 482 acres of forest and government land at BM Kaval in Kengeri by submitting forged documents, Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre said on Tuesday.

A senior police officer from Mudigere police station told DH that Manmatha (68), was arrested from his relative's house in Kadur early morning and taken into police custody for the thorough interrogation. He was taken for medical examination before being produced before the magistrate to seek his custody.

On November 27, DH had reported about the forest department staring at a loss of the reserved forest in B M Kaval worth about Rs 30,000 crore after one M B Nemannagouda got a favourable order from court. 

"Manmatha is basically an agriculturist and owns some property in Mudigere where he lives with his wife and three sons. He was absconding in Kadur and based on a tip-off, he was secured by the police. We need to question him to ascertain how he got involved in the forest and government land-grabbing attempt," the officer said.

Khandre said Manmatha had earlier attempted to stake claim over 512 acres and 26 guntas of forest and government land by using false and fabricated documents and obtaining a court order. Following this, the Assistant Conservator of Forests lodged a complaint at the Mudigere police station on November 28, while a separate complaint was also filed by the tahsildar Ashwini S of Mudigere on December 13. 

Based on these complaints, the police registered an FIR and arrested Manmatha during the course of the investigation. The minister said the role of others involved in the alleged conspiracy to encroach upon forest and government land would be revealed during the probe.

Khandre alleged that some officials and government advocates were extending direct and indirect support to those attempting to grab forest and government land worth thousands of crores of rupees. He said he had written to the chief minister seeking either a CID probe or an investigation by a Special Investigation Team.

Warning that no one would be spared for attempting to encroach upon forest land using fake documents, Khandre said such illegal acts would not be tolerated.

After producing Manmatha before the magistrates' house, he was remanded to judicial custody. "We will seek his police custody in open court on Wednesday," a senior police officer told DH.