VIJAYAWADA: A land grabbing gang was arrested on Monday as it was attempting to sell Rs 3 crore worth land at Guru Nanak Colony in the city.Presenting the accused before the media on Monday, DCP Gajarao Bhupal said the gang had noticed a 366 square-yard land, whose ownership belonged to one Srilakshmi--wife of Chalasani Nageswar Rao, lying vacant for over six years.
Upon seeing that no ownership was being claimed, they printed and pasted a poster in the area saying that they were the owners of the land, the DCP said, adding that the group was even constructing a shed on the open land. The members of the gang were identified as Kukati Joseph Staneley (38) of Madhuranagar, Kambagalla Raju (56) of Ajit Singh Nagar, Karampudi Srinivasa Rao (42) of Vijayanagar Colony, Mukkamala Rajesh (40) of Labbipet and Manchineella Gopala Krishna (38) from Guntur.
As soon as he became aware about the incident, Movva Siva Nageswara Rao (relative of the owner) lodged a complaint with Patamata police station. It was later revealed that the gang had made counterfeit documents of the property with help from some officials. “We were informed the issue at the right time and we did a transparent investigation into the case. The gang had created fake documents saying that the land was sold to a woman named Sowbhagyamma in 1980.
During our investigation, we have to reasons to believe that staff of Gannavaram sub-registrar office may have helped the gang in creating the fabricated documents,” DCP Gajarao Bhupal said.The DCP further said one of members of the gang, Mukkamala Rajesh, has a criminal history and was also a prime accused in a sex scandal. A case was filed against the gang under sections 420, 427, 468, 471 and 120 (B) of IPC and they would be presented before the court on Tuesday.
Land grabbers
Upon seeing that no ownership of the 366 square-yard land was being claimed, they printed and pasted a poster in the area saying that they were the owners of the land, the DCP said. The police suspect staff of Gannavaram sub-registrar office might have helped the five-member gang to create fabricated documents.