Hyderabad: The weekly Praja Darbar by Rachakonda commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat to address public grievances helped a retired government employee get back his land, which had been re-registered by land grabbers.
Police arrested five members of a gang operating since 2010 in Meerpet area that had grabbed around Rs 16 crore worth of land and re-registered it in their names.
Those arrested were identified as Khaja Faraaz Hussain, Ravinder Reddy, D. Srinivas Reddy, A. Ramesh and S. Murali Mohan. Ten others are absconding.
Mr Mahesh Bhagwat said that one Khaja Shakeer Hussain had received around 1,900 acre of land spread in Karmanghat, Sulthan Valva and Bairamalguda villages as an “inam” from rulers. But before the government abolished the inam system in 1979, he sold around 62 acres to one Ratnabai and her sons.
After the death of Shakeer Hussain in 1995, one of his employees, Ravinder Reddy, approached Shakeer’s son Khaja and told him his father had left a will naming him legal heir to his property, which was not registered. Khaja started selling the lands which his father had already sold.
"Ravinder Reddy helped him procure his father’s death certificate and legal heir certificate and other documents which he used to sell the lands. In 2000, they also approached ex Maoist Ganesh and with his help disposed as many as 50 plots," Mr Bhagwat said.
The scam was unearthed after the Rachakonda commissioner ordered to open the cases and asked Meerpet inspector N. Ch. Rangaswamy to start fresh inquiries after retired employee Mr Buchaiah approached the commissioner during Praja Darbar in July.
During inquiry, police identified documents of 58 such plots worth more than Rs 2 crore. Cops suspect that more lands were re-registered like this and are further investigating.
