Bagalkot MLC, two brothers in land scam

Another BJP legislator finds himself in a land scam and this time it is MLC Narayansa Bhandage.

A case has been filed in the district sessions court against Bhandage and his two brothers for securing four commercial sites meant for those affected by submersion of land in river water from the Bagalkot Town Development Authority (BTDA), by creating fake documents.

Senior advocate of Bagalkot, S K Magaji, filed a private complaint in this regard on Monday and it is expected to come up for hearing on February 22. Magaji told a press conference that he had submitted relevant documents to the court.

According to BTDA rules, the owners or tenants of those commercial establishments which come in the limits of the submersion area, are eligible to get two sites each at Navanagar.

Four sites
But the MLC and his brothers managed to get four sites by submitting fake documents.   
Narayansa Bhandage, Nagesh Bhandage and Devdas Bhandage run a watch showroom at a shop owned by Mangala Virupakshappa Sajjana and Anasuya Veerappa Sajjana at Vallabhabhai Chowk in the city.

They submitted applications to BTDA for securing commercial sites in different names, thus cheating the government, states the complaint.

While Narayansa submitted an application in the name of Karnataka Watch Company, Nagesh sought a site in the name of Karnataka Watch Repair and Devdas in the name of Devi TV Repairs and Lakshmi Home Industries. They created fake documents for the purpose.