There is more than one reason and a number of instances to believe that revenue officials could have been directly or indirectly connected to some sensational land grabbing cases that came to light recently in Karimnagar town.
Police investigating charges of encroachment of lands, allegedly, by an ex-sarpanch P. Srinivas of Bommakal village on the town outskirts stumbled upon some original government records during searches. They caught hold of these documents, which included pahani copies, from Gajjala Anil, a private assistant to village revenue officer of Bommakal.
How did government records and official documents land in the hands of a private assistant is the question investigators are yet to find an answer to. That VRO, who was earlier suspended on the charge of committing irregularities, got promoted to the post of deputy tahsildar. On receipt of a report of his possible complicity and the evidence against him gathered through Anil, it was reportedly decided to suspend the DT, now posted in Jagityal district.
“Srinivas had been accused of illegally occupying or indirectly supporting grabbing of government lands. Can he do it without tacit support of officials,” asks Thota Kiran Kumar, a ward member of Bommakal village. Already, police issued 11 FIRs against Srinivas. In all these cases, charges were related to illegal occupation of private lands.
He was remanded in judicial custody. Police took them into custody for four days for further interrogation. Investigators hope to gather fresh evidence over the cases reported in villages surrounding the town.
Karimnagar Lok Satta president N. Srinivas says encroachment of government lands is not a new phenomenon. “Such complaints have been there for past several years. Delayed response or action of revenue authorities strengthens suspicion that they are hand in glove with land grabbers,” says Mr. Srinivas. He recalled representations made to government over encroachments in Chinthakunta village.
The matter was taken to the notice of Lok Ayuktha. The Bommakal lands issue was also represented to the Lok Ayuktha, he said.
A classic case is the allocation of one acre and 20 guntas of government land in Nagunoor village to ‘Lakshminarayana’.
This was part of three acres of land initially allocated to an ex-Army man Vinod Kumar.
With the latter approaching the police, an inquiry was launched.
It now came out that Lakshminarayana is a fictitious person. Inquiries say revenue staff claim that the file involving Lakshminarayana is ‘missing’.
On Friday, Karimnagar Task Force police found documents, including fabricated papers and false receipts, relating to Bommakal lands.
