Soaring land prices give rise to crime in city

Soaring land prices give rise to crime in city
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The kidnapping of a college girl on Thursday evening, has once again brought into focus the soaring land prices in the city and the instances of crime resulting from it.

In the present case, the girl Manasa was rescued from Narayanaswamy, who was allegedly eyeing her father's property in Amruthahalli. While police term this as a stray case, they agree that cases of intimidation by the land mafia sometimes go unreported.

According to the police, Narayanaswamy planned to lay his hands on the property by marrying the girl. In the Devanahalli vicinity itself, there had been a spurt of property disputes after prices shot up because of the international airport coming up there. The real estate boom is also suspected to be the reason for a few murders in the city outskirts, police said.

Though not reported to the police, there have been instances of intimidation of property-owners by anti-social elements through various means. “They do not come to the police and most of it is settled themselves. The strong ones fight tooth and nail,'' a senior police officer said. Going by the police themselves, a good number of rowdies are into the real estate business.

In many cases, prime property located in the heart of the city has been a bone of contention among rival rowdy groups with owners being forced to yield to their prices. Similarly, many land-owners have faced the doggedness of developers who offer to build up their property. Though they offer to do business, there is the veiled threat in the conversations. There have also been several incidents where criminal elements have tried to stake claim on property, by fabricating property records.

The police, on their part, say that there are several small-time rowdies who extort people using the names of underworld elements. However, police say that such incidents are now under control after a crackdown on rowdies.

A few hundred rowdy sheeters had been rounded up in February after an increase in rowdyism.

“We are dealing with such cases with an iron hand,'' an officer said. Last month, the police had also initiated action for expelling five notorious rowdies from the city.