BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash criminal proceedings against retired Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar and two others in a corruption case involving the alleged illegal transfer of two acres of land worth crores to Tarabai Maruthi Rao Jadhav, mother of former Chief Secretary Aravind Jadhav, in Ramanayakanahalli, Anekal taluk, Bengaluru Rural district.
Justice H P Sandesh passed the order while rejecting the petitions filed by the accused—Shankar, former Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban District; Surveyor Gangaiah; and Joint Director of Land Records K Jayaprakash—who had challenged the legality of the First Information Report (FIR) dated 15 September 2018. They had also questioned the state government’s sanction to prosecute them and the charge sheet filed against them under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court noted that "phodi work was done within a span of three months, and the same is a classic example of how phodi work was done without an application either by Tarabai or by the original grantee, Ramakrishnaiah. Only based on the RTC khatha reference of Tarabai, the paper was processed, and the Assistant Commissioner reference was made on 22 January 2016. The Deputy Commissioner gave prior approval immediately without looking into the documents for phodi work."
Further, the court observed that the office of the Deputy Commissioner acted at the behest of the then Chief Secretary. "Doing phodi work at such speed is history in the Revenue Department, and it appears this is the only phodi work completed in the entire state within three months because the Chief Secretary’s mother had purchased the property—not from the original allottee but through the creation of documents in the name of a fictitious person, Ramakrishnaiah, who was not the original grantee."
Taking note of the material on record, the court ruled that the evidence "clearly indicates the misuse of official power by the accused, particularly these petitioners. Gangaiah sent the file to Jayaprakash, who, in turn, forwarded it without reviewing the records to Shankar, who granted prior approval without verifying the documents for phodi work, which is a clear violation of rules and regulations and amounts to misuse of power."
The case originated from a complaint filed by one S Bhaskaran with the then Anti-Corruption Bureau on 23 August 2016. The investigation was later transferred to the Lokayukta, which subsequently filed the charge sheet.