10 detained for illegal registration of 5-acre public land in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: As many as 10 people, including three outsourced employees of Dharani portal, the integrated land records management system, have been arrested in a case related to alleged illegal possession of a five-acre government land in Manikonda.

The land, worth over Rs 500 crore, was not specifically allocated to any government department but was clearly declared as belonging to the state.

Sources said TNIE that the adjacent 62 acres of government land in Survey No. 4 were allotted to the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (now the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority) and the Housing Board in 1986. However, these disputed five-acre lands have not been allocated.

Two brothers, Krishna and Prahalad, attempted to claim this land illegally. The duo had contacted a lawyer in Moosapet about a legal action to claim the land, and that’s where they met real estate agent Ravinder Yadav.

Ravinder Yadav assured the brothers that he would help them get a 50-50 share of the land. He then contacted a journalist/reporter, Bhim Rao, who helped them meet three outsourced employees of the Dharani section of the revenue department.

All three are said to be lower-level employees of the Rangareddy Collectorate office who colluded with other individuals and submitted documents to the collector seeking approval of Pattadar’s passbook.

“In a busy schedule amid elections, the collector gave his approval and the duo received two pattadar e-passbooks, one in October and another in November,” said a senior official working on the case. TNIE.

“The two people attempted to obtain legal ownership of the prohibited land even though they did not have any valid documents,” the official added.

The issue recently came to light after the local Mandal Revenue Officer (NRO) noticed that the Pattadar e-passbooks had been issued for the field, although no official recommended or sent a report to the collector’s office in this regard.

Following this, the Gandipet MRO filed a complaint at the Raidurgam police station. The case was later transferred to the economic offenses wing of the Cyberabad police station.