TIRUPATI: The CID on Sunday arrested five persons, including a retired Village Revenue Officer (VRO), who created fake documents for government lands worth Rs 500 crore and tried to sell them.Giving the case details to mediapersons, CID DSP Ravi Kumar said Ganesh Pillai worked as VRO of Gollapalli in Yadamari mandal and retired from service in 2010. He was involved in the process of computerisation of land records for the period of 2005 to 2010 before his retirement.
Pillai, with the help of his son Madhusudhan, who has knowledge of computers, had created fake documents for about 2,300 acres of government land in 13 mandals of Chittoor district. Later, they got the fake documents for 1,500 acres in 55 survey numbers spreading over nine mandals uploaded to the webland portal after entry in the records of the office of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA). The fake documents had shown that the lands were Pillai’s ancestral property.
The scam came to light when Madhusudhan and his sisters Dharani and Komali approached Somala tahsildar to claim 160.9 acres of land. The then tahsildar Shyam Prasad Reddy conducted a field inquiry in the survey number mentioned by Madhusudhan and found that there was only 45.42 acres of land in the said survey number. He lodged a complaint in the local police station on May 29, 2020 against the accused. Later, the case was transferred to the CID.
During the probe, the CID had found that the lands were in the name of same persons in 13 mandals. “We approached the CCLA seeking a detailed inquiry into the matter. Later, we also approached the Chittoor District Collector seeking assistance of revenue officials in the probe. Two officials of Mandal Revenue Officer rank were given to us,’’ Ravi Kumar said.
After verification of lands, the revenue officials had submitted a report to the CID. Based on the report, the CID arrested Pillai and his children Madhusudhan, Dharani and Komali, and middleman Adavi Ramana.
The CID DSP said Ramana hailing from Charala village in Chowdepalle mandal, joined hands with Pillai in his bid to sell the government lands. Around 10 persons were deceived by Pillai. “We will receive complaints from the victims if they come forward, and ensure justice to them,’’ the DSP assured.
Retired VRO is main accused in the case
Ganesh Pillai, a retired Village Revenue Officer, is the main accused in the fake land document scam, CID DSP Ravi Kumar said. Pillai’s children Madhusudhan, Dharani and Komali, and middleman A Ramana are the other accused in the case