The Lokayukta special court on Monday ordered investigation in a private complaint against former Chief Minister N. Dharam Singh, former minister H.D. Revanna and others in a case of alleged illegal denotification in Banashankari 6th phase. The complainant, Rayasandra Ravikumar of Turuvekere, claimed that Mr Revanna’s sister-in-law bought a piece of land for Rs 50 lakh even as the land was under acquisition and then Chief Minister Dharam Singh denotified it. After the denotification, the same land was sold at Rs 4crore to Sobha Developers, causing a huge loss to the state exchequer.
The complaint has named Mr Singh as prime accused and listed Mr Revanna; Ms Kavita Balakrishne Gowda, wife of H.D. Balakrishne Gowda; JD(S) MLC K.V. Narayanaswamy and others as co-accused in the case. He stated that 10.17 acres of land in Hosahalli village under Uttarahalli hobli had been acquired by the BDA to form Banashankari Layout 6th phase and also to build a connecting road to Kanakapura. The land in questioned belonged to K.V. Narayanaswamy and nine other family members. They had raised objections to the acquisition in June 2003, but the BDA rejected their plea and gave them the compensation amount after final notification in September 2004.
The complainant said that the conspiracy started taking shape after the JD(S)-Congress coalition government came to power in 2004. Mr Narayanaswamy approached Mr Dharam Singh for denotification in June 2004 and also filed a writ petition before the High Court challenging the acquisition in October 2004. Then Principal Secretary, Urban Development department, Shamim Banu, placed a file with a noting that since the matter was in the High Court denotification was not possible.
In April 2005, Ms Kavitha entered into a sale agreement with Narayanswamy for 2.20 acres of the 10.17 acre land. Pending the High Court case, Mr Dharam Singh ordered denotification of 10.17 acres in October 2005. In December 2005, 2.20 acres of land was registered against Ms Kavitha for Rs 50 lakh. Narayanswamy withdrew the petition in June 2006 and two months later the 2.20 acres of land was sold to Sobha Developers. He also sold his portion of the land to other people. The complainant said that Mr Narayanaswamy was made the MLC in 2008.