BENGALURU: Police have arrested eight staff members of the Assistant Director of Land Records (ADLR) office and a private individual after uncovering a unique modus operandi in Srirangapatna taluk of Mandya district.
According to investigators, the ADLR staff allegedly shared the department's user IDs and passwords with the private individual, who had been unofficially engaged to carry out tasks assigned to office employees, including entering Akarband records and other data into the state's survey portal. The accused is also alleged to have collected bribes on behalf of the staff through digital payment apps using his mobile phone.
However, ADLR officer Mohammed Hussain was absconding after he went out on the pretext of attending nature's call.
The staffers arrested were Survey Supervisor Yogaraj, Land Surveyors Aravind, Jayaboregowda, Dayanand, Madhu, Ramesh, Harish, Nesha Sarika Malli C and a private person called Nithin Premananda Mahale. With this, the entire government office came to a standstill for the first time.
The arrest has been made by the Srirangapatna police following the complaint registered by the Mandya Lokayukta police following the seizure of incriminating materials during the searches conducted in the offices of the accused based on the warrants issued by the Upa Lokayukta Justice B Veerappa.
A complaint was filed by Nagendra of Mahadevapura with the Upa Lokayukta alleging that illegal khata are being created to grab around 200 acres of government land in the village in Srirangapatna taluk, for which the authorities of the survey department, tahsildar and ADLR colluded.
In view of this, Justice Veerappa issued warrants to the Lokayukta police in Mandya to search the office of Tahsildar Chetana Yadav, Panchayat Development Officer G R Nagendra, ADLR Mohammed Hussain and Assistant Commissioner Srinivas, Pandavapura Sub Division of Mandya district.
When one of the four teams of Lokayukta police searched the office of ADLR, it was found that Nithin Premanand Mahale was discharging duties as if he were a government servant attached to the office of the ADLR. Preliminary inquiries revealed that he had been unofficially engaged by the ADLR to carry out data entry work, including the digital entry of Akarband records in the Survey and Settlement database.
All the accused have shared the User ID, passwords and the OTPs they receive with Nithin Premanand Mahale, who is entering the Akarband in the digital survey portal. The ADLR, Supervisor and Surveyors are paying Rs 15,000 monthly to Mahale for doing their job.
Investigators also found that both ADLR Hussain and Mahale were residing in the same house at Shivaratrishwara Nagar in Mysuru, where seals and documents signed by surveyors, supervisors and Tahsildar of Hunsur, Sakhaleshpur and Kolar were found. They also seized Rs 1.40 lakh in unaccounted cash.
When Mahale's bank account was checked, lakhs of rupees in transactions were found. It was stated that Hussain is from Dakshina Kannada and Mahale is from Uttara Kannada. The investigation revealed that Mahale had worked alongside Hussain at all his postings, including Sakleshpur and Hunsur.
Briefing the media on the arrests, Justice Veerappa said searches at the premises of the Tahsildar and the Assistant Commissioner were still underway and that the investigation was still on.