BENGALURU: Special teams of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday conducted multiple raids at five places including the offices and residences of the director and board members of Valmark Realty Holdings Pvt Ltd on charges of an alleged Transferable Development Rights (TDR) scam worth crores of rupees. The team also raided the residence of BDA Assistant executive engineer Krishna Lal. The officials seized documents from five places as a part of investigations.
It is said the raid followed complaints alleging that Krishna Lal, an assistant executive engineer in BDA, was involved in illegal activities and had helped some private companies make a profit by encroaching on roads and land around the city.
The project involved widening of a stretch of road between TC Palya and Outer Ring Road (ORR). Krishna Lal, who was executive engineer with the Public Works Department (PWD), was posted in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) during 2013-15 when he issued the TDR in this particular case.
In a press release, ACB officials said the raid began on early Saturday and the teams looked for documents on Valmark’s office premises, located on Residency road, the residences of Valmark’s managing director Rathan Babulal Lath and an employee Amith J Bolar, and Gotham and Munirajappa, who work for civic bodies and are suspected to be involved in the scam. The raids were conducted simultaneously and some documents were recovered. However, the accused managed to escape.
A senior officer said the ACB launched a probe into the alleged scam involving the issuing of TDR by the civic body for road widening projects. A week ago a similar raid was held at a office belonging to Krishnalal. On Friday, a fire broke in a BBMP office in Bellandur near Mahadevapura, where the TDR documents were kept and the ACB officials were about to verify those files. Bellandur police have registered a case of foul play following the mishap.
On April 11 this year, the ACB had registered an FIR against six people regarding an instance where the price of a property, acquired by the civic body, was inflated to benefit a former owner who had sold the land more than a decade ago. This was done by issuing more TDRs than warranted.