Ex-IC-814 pilot loses home to SCB drive

Hyderabad: Air India captain Rajender Kumar Shaganti, who shot to fame during the hijacking of flight IC-814 to Khandahar in 1999, lost his home on Tuesday during a demolition drive. His home was one of five houses — constructed illegally by a builder — to be pulled down by Cantonment Board officials at Boosareddyguda-Marredpally. The case is an example of how many residents are simply not aware of what permissions the builder has received before taking orders for homes.

Officials say all five were constructed illegally, without permission. In this case, the land owner was given permission only for five structures on the layout. But according to officials he violated the permit and constructed 10 houses. Speaking to DC, Shaganti — who was the co-pilot of IC-814 during the hijacking and a resident of Saraswati Enclave, Boosareddyguda — said on Tuesday morning, the CEO along with staff knocked down five homes in the society.

“I had taken a loan of Rs 90 lakh for this house and had spent another few lakhs on the interior — a total loss is now Rs 1.25 crore. It is surprising that we even got an LIC loan on this property. Bank officials even approved the loan without any difficulty.” Another victim of the demolition, Deepak Sharma – the president of the society — said: “We purchased the flat in 2007 and the houses were constructed in 2004. What were the Cantonment officials doing when the builders were constructing it?”

Bala Krishna, assistant engineer, Marred-pally said: “The land owner was one Prakash Babu who had given this layout for development. The builder, in 2003, applied for permission and was given permission to build five structures. But he went ahead and built 10 duplex houses. They have totally deviated from the sanctioned plan. By the time a notice was issued in 2007, the builder had sold out all the houses. The property buyers initially approached defence officials in Pune, but the case was  dismissed. They later  approached courts but they too favoured the Cant. Board.” The buyer then applied for regularisation but the board rejected it. The last attempt was in the High court but no stay was granted. This is when SCB officials went ahead with the demolition.