2 GHMC contract staff held in mutation of land fraud

Hyderabad: The central crime station has arrested a GHMC contract employee for illegally changing the name of a property owner. Recently, the GHMC central zone had unearthed another scam of mutation of properties. This time, it’s no outsider but two GHMC contract employees who were found to be hand in glove with the fraudsters.

The two — data entry operators B. Polaiah and M. Lakhan Singh — illegally changed the name of the owner of a property online without any backup documents. The central crime station arrested B. Polaiah.

Mutation means when a property is purchased by X from Y, it is important for Y to submit the registration and purchase documents to the GHMC, so that a change is made in the revenue records and the property tax is issued in the name of the new owner.

A senior official said, “The duo replicated the master key password of the deputy commissioner and committed the crime. This was revealed when the complainant approached the deputy commissioner. The case was that the complainant purchased a property at Gourishanker Colony, Road 11, Banjara Hills in 2015. The complainant got it registered and the property was mutated in the new owner’s name in the municipal records too, the same year. But the two accused, with the help of the Centre for Good Governance (CGG) protocol address, made the changes.”

“The two changed the ownership name by taking a bribe. However, this is the tip of the iceberg and there could be more of such dirty deeds. The contract employees earned Rs 12,000 – Rs 15,000 on each mutation case, mainly to speed up the process. The designated timeframe to make changes in the municipal records is 15 to 30 days.

Following the detection of the fraud, the GHMC has made changes in the process of mutation.

Earlier, the new property owner would have to submit the registration and purchase documents to the GHMC’s concerned division, and then the changes would be made.