Nanjangud: A criminal case has been booked against 16 persons including former Nanjangud Tahsildar Naveen Joseph for providing compensation to non-beneficiaries at Nanjangud Town Police Station.

The State Government has ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe into the complaint of granting compensation for nine non-eligible persons for the lands acquired by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) at Himmavu village in Nanjangud taluk.

According to the complaint lodged by incumbent Tahsildar  Shivamurthy of Nanjangud, the following persons are named as accused. They are-former Chairman of Karnataka Land Tribunal Krishnamurthy, former Nanjangud Tahsildar Naveen Joseph, who was also the Member-Secretary of the Tribunal,  former officers RRT Shirastedar Ramesh Babu, Revenue Inspector Shivaraju and Village Accountant Venkatesh and beneficiaries, who got compensation on the basis of false documents.

The beneficiaries who received compensation after producing false documents are P. Krishnananda Girigoswamy, Bheeshma Pitamaha, Satyabhama, Kuldeep Prakash, Bheeshma Pitamaha’s daughters Shobhadevi, Hemalatha, Nisha Sharma, Anjana Sharma and Vijayalakshmi and Pratheep Magtu. They had got the khata done by providing false family tree details.

They have been booked under IPC Sections 406, 409, 420, 465, 468, 471, 120B and 149 and Section 192 of Karnataka Land Revenue Act 1964.

Details of the case: The lands in survey numbers (390 to 422 and 424) at Himmavu in Chikkaiahana Chatra hobli in Nanjangud taluk are in the name of Krishnananda Girigoswamy. When Karnataka Land Reforms Act was introduced, Krishnananda Girigoswamy had submitted a declaration letter to the Government. Accordingly, a case was before the Land Tribunal to decide over the extent of land belonging to the family.

The Tribunal in its order dated Aug. 06, 1993 had fixed 10 units for the each of the family members totalling 40 units, for Krishnananda Girigoswamy, Bheeshma Pitamaha, Satyabhama and Kuldeep Prakash. However, the High Court had quashed the order directing the Tribunal for re-inquiry.

After conducting the inquiry  again, the Tribunal upheld the previous order on May 28, 1999, only to be quashed by the High Court on Dec. 18, 2006 ordering for an inquiry again. Interestingly, the Tribunal, apart from the 40 units of land allotted to four in its earlier order, allotted 50 more units to the daughters of Bheeshma Pitamaha — Shobhadevi, Hemalatha, Nisha Sharma, Anjana Sharma and Vijayalakshmi — totalling 90 units of land to the family. KIADB which had acquired the said lands had issued compensation to the owners.

However, the Accountant General of Audit had taken exception citing that ineligible beneficiaries have been given compensation, following which the State Government ordered for a CID probe on Dec. 7.  As the CID can launch a probe only if a complaint is lodged at the local Police Station, Nanjangud Tahsildar Shivamurthy lodged a complaint at Nanjangud Town Police Station.