BENGALURU: The descendants of CJ Padmanabha, the legendary City Improvement Trust Board (CITB) chairman after whom Padmanabhnagar is named, are running from pillar to post to get the BBMP to retransfer the khata to them, which had been transferred to the names of two fraudsters.
The CITB is the forerunner of BDA and BBMP. It is a travesty of justice that the descendants of the former chairman are left in the lurch after confidence tricksters played a fraud on his wife. Padmanabha was the son of Rao Bahadur HC Javaraya, who was the first Indian superintendent of Lalbagh and the first Indian director of Karnataka Horticulture who was trained in Kew Gardens in London. The Javaraya Circle is named after this giant.
Well over two decades after Padmanabha’s death, their driver, Francis Paunny, sought the help of Kanaka Padmanabha (84) and asked her to attest her signatures. Those signatures turned out to be on the sale deeds and a will. She had unwittingly signed away her entire property in Jayanagar First Block, which is a site measuring 8,100 sqft worth over Rs 20 crore at present market rates, states a police complaint.
Francis and his accomplice Krishna Murugan had already managed to defraud Kanaka, whose father was a wealthy landlord, of an antique diamond necklace, ruby necklace, and 33 pieces of select antique gold and silver valuables and jewellery worth over Rs 1 crore.
This is in addition to several transactions where money was fraudulently transferred from her account to the fraudsters, states the police complaint, which was filed way back in 2012. Even after the chargesheet was filed, the BBMP, which should not have transferred the khata to fraudsters, did so in spite of court orders and pleas by family members. The entire property khatas in two tranches were transferred to Francis and Krishna, the family alleged.
Harish Padmanabha (76), son of Padmanabha, who is pursuing the battle his mother launched, said, “The pain of being defrauded has been lingering for about a decade. But I have rock-solid faith in our judicial system. My only worry is that the next generation too must not suffer the consequences of this fraud.’’
He said, “The fraudsters who served a small prison term are still at large and have taken loans in the name of our family. We fear that banks may swoop down on us and leave us with more pain.”