Land mafia-police nexus exposed

Land mafia-police nexus exposed

K.V. Subramanya

‘JCB Narayana’ was a nightmare for landowners in Bangalore south, say the police

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

A PRIZE CATCH: Commissioner for Police N. Achuta Rao (right) inspecting the weapons recovered from Narayanaswamy and his 13 associates, in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE: A nexus between several police officers and the city’s land mafia has come to light with the arrest of Narayanaswamy, an alleged land grabber who is an accused in six murder cases in Bangalore and Tamil Nadu.

In successive operations on Saturday and Sunday, the Organised Crime Wing of the Central Crime Branch arrested Narayanaswamy alias JCB Narayana (33) of Chikkabegur on Hosur Road and his 13 accomplices.

The police seized from them five revolvers, including a German-make, 33 bullets, a dozen swords and three multi-utility vehicles, which were fitted with fake number plates.

Commissioner of Police Neelam Achutha Rao told presspersons on Wednesday that in the past seven years Narayanaswamy and his accomplices had grabbed government lands as well as disputed private properties in and around the city, mainly on Hosur Road and Bannerghatta Road. A team led by Assistant Commissioner of Police N. Rameshchandra arrested Narayanaswamy and his gang while they were allegedly planning to murder their rival Mathi Naga at Electronics City.

Mr. Rao said Narayanaswamy was “a nightmare” to innocent framers, landowners and real estate agents in Chikkabegur, Doddabegur, Rayasandra, Dodda Nagamangala, Choodasandra, Hulimavu and Electronics City.

He used to create fake documents for lands and create a dispute about the ownership of the property. Subsequently, he would usurp the land by terrorising the rightful owners. A group of people, including some real estate agents, had hired him to fence disputed land, he said.
Police connivance

Meanwhile, sources in the city police told The Hindu that many police officers working in the South-East and South divisions in the city and in Bangalore Rural district had connived with Narayanaswamy.

During interrogation, Narayanaswamy reportedly named an Assistant Commissioner of Police and a few inspectors working in the South-East division and an inspector from the South division who were reportedly on the take from him.

Besides, many lower rung policemen from Electronics City, Parappana Agrahara, Hulimavu, Hebbugodi, MICO Layout and adjoining police stations were on his payroll, the sources said.

When this correspondent asked senior police officials about the alleged nexus, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur said they would identify such policemen and take action against them. “The entire police force cannot be accused of having connived with the accused,” he said. Puttaraju, Govinda Reddy, Srinivasa Reddy and Krishna Narayana, who had hired Narayanaswamy, were under the police scanner. Necessary action would be taken against them at an appropriate time.
Appeal to victims

Mr. Hosur said many people who were victimised by Narayanaswamy might not have lodged complaints as they “might have been under the impression they would not get justice even if they approached the police.” He appealed to landowners who were coerced into giving their properties to Narayanaswamy to lodge complaints.

Narayanaswamy, an SSLC dropout and a tailor by profession, was first arrested by the Madivala police in 1995 in a murder case. He was an accused in nine cases of chain snatching in 1996-97. After being in jail for three-and-a-half years, he came out on bail in 2000 and started real estate business, the police said.