BENGALURU: RTI activist Dinesh Kallahalli, in a formal complaint to Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, has accused Minister for Minor Irrigation, Science and Technology NS Boseraju of illegally encroaching upon a parcel of five acres of reserved forest land in Raichur, under survey numbers 1252, 1254 and 253.
Kallahalli has also alleged that the encroachment was orchestrated in the name of Boseraju’s wife N Krishna Veni, and demanded that the minister be ousted from his post.
Boseraju has dismissed the charges as “utterly false” and “defamatory”. He told a group of reporters on Monday: “Neither I nor my family have ever encroached reserve forest land. In fact, a notice issued by forest officials -- FOC No. 16/2022-23 -- was already quashed by the Kalaburagi Bench of the High Court.” He also revealed that the land in question was legally purchased in 1987, long before he entered public office in 1999. “I wasn’t even an MLA or MLC then, let alone a minister. How could I have possibly misused my position?”
The minister went on to accuse his political opponents of orchestrating a vicious smear campaign. “These allegations are being made despite the court’s ruling. This is a calculated political move to defame me,” he declared. Boseraju pointed out that all the land in his wife’s name has been transparently declared in both his income-tax filings and official property disclosures to the Lokayukta. He called the allegations “baseless” and yet another example of the growing trend of baseless complaints being filed against ministers without proper verification.
