HC dismisses Vinay Kulkarni’s plea against pardoned witness' admission in Yogesh Gowda murder case
Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has dismissed the plea filed by legislator Vinay Kulkarni challenging the admission of a pardoned witness in the case related to the murder of BJP leader from Dharwad Yogesh Gowda.
Kulkarni, who is also an accused in the murder case, had challenged the move making Basavaraj Muttagi, another accused, a pardoned witness.
Justice M Nagaprasanna, who heard the petition, directed the Special Court to complete the trial within four weeks before dismissing the petition.
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Upa Lokayukta raids uncover alleged ₹200 crore government land scam in Mandya; five officials arrest
Bengaluru: A search conducted by Lokayukta police on the directions of B Veerappa have exposed an alleged scam involving the illegal transfer of government land worth around ₹200 crore in Nagamangala taluk of Mandya district, officials said.
According to The New Indian Express, Nagamangala taluk office allegedly forged, tampered with and fabricated documents to transfer about 320 acres of government gomal land to private individuals under the pretext of allotments through the Bagair Hukum Committee (BHC).
Acting on a tip-off about the racket involved in usurping the gomal land, the Upa Lokayukta issued warrants on Tuesday to conduct searches at seven places, including the residences of the persons involved, the government guest house, a hotel and the taluk office in Nagamangala, the assembly segment represented by Agriculture Minister N Cheluvarayaswamy.
Following the recovery of incriminating documents, a complaint was filed by the Lokayukta police, based on which Nagamangala police registered a First Information Report (FIR) citing criminal conspiracy, cheating, dishonesty, tampering, fraudulently using forged documents, theft and criminal breach of trust.
Five officials of the land records branch were arrested. They have been identified as second division assistants Satish H V and Gurumurthy, shirastedars Ravishankara and Umesh, and Darakastu village assistant S Yogesh.
“The act of the officials shocks the consciousness of this authority,” said Upa Lokayukta Justice Veerappa.
A statement from the Lokayukta office said that prima facie, it was found that the accused fabricated documents, such as Saguvali Chit, grant ledgers and other land records were created in the Darakastu land records section to illegally transfer gomal land in villages including H N Kavalu, Chikkajataka, Doddajataka and Karadahalli in Nagamangala taluk.
Applications seeking grant of land were found in the car belonging to village assistant Yogesh. When the Lokayukta police, headed by Superintendent of Police Suresh Babu, questioned Yogesh, he revealed that records room staffers Vijay Kumar, Satish and Yashavanth, along with deed writer Chinnaswamy, were diverting government land since 2020.
The seized records disclosed that entries in the land grant ledger had been tampered with to add new names. While BHC rules allow a maximum allotment of 4 acres and 38 guntas per beneficiary, records showed that 9 acres and 27 guntas were allotted to one Prakrul Khan and 11 acres and 23 guntas to Kaleem Mulla. However, these entries are not found in the original records kept in the records room, where the search was conducted.
Further investigation is under way, officials said.
