Hyderabad: The Banjara Hills police on Sunday booked K. Venkateshwar Rao and K. Viplav Kumar, sons of Rajya Sabha member and senior BRS leader K. Keshava Rao, for allegedly forging ownership documents of a land parcel owned by an NRI and selling it to another party.
The NRI, identified as G. Jayamala, a 72-year-old woman holding USA citizenship, came to know of the land deal after receiving a show cause notice from the I-T Department over the land sale.
The case was registered under sections 417, 464, 465, 468, 470, 471 and 120(b) of the IPC and Section 156(3) of the CrPC on June 13, following court orders. However, the case was released in the public domain only on Sunday.
Despite a month elapsing since the case was registered, there was no development.
The suspects in the case are also brothers of GHMC Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi.
G. Jayamala, who owns a plot measuring over 400 square yards on Road No. 12 of Banjara Hills, said she visited the site whenever she visited India. But in December 2022, she received a notice from the I-T, through mail, questioning why no penalty should be levied for the transaction amount of '1,40,41,300 in the 2014-15 assessment year.
I-T officials said that the notice was related to a sale deed executed for the land.
However, Jayamala contended she did not execute the sale and approached Truth Labs with all related documents, including the original and the allegedly forged sale deed, to verify the authenticity of the documents and her signature.
Truth Labs is an independent and full-fledged forensic service laboratory for the public.
Truth Labs, in its report, stated that the signatures in the forged sale deed did not match with her signatures, which itself indicates that her signatures were fabricated and the documents were also forged, to execute the land deal, Jayamala said in her complaint.
She lodged a complaint with the Banjara Hills police via registered post addressed to the station house officer in April 2023, but as there was no action, she complained to the Hyderabad police commissioner and the Banjara Hills ACP.
However, she said that as she did not get help from the police, she was forced to approach the court to get an FIR issued against the suspects.
S. Naveen Reddy, the investigation officer in the case, said that the case is under investigation and they are in the process of collecting evidence.
Political parties, meanwhile, were quick to jump on the incident.
Telangana state BJP’s official spokesperson N.V. Subhash alleged that it was a blatant misuse of power by kin of top BRS leaders “who have indulged in land grab” in the city. “It was ironic to note that the latest incident of land grab by forging signatures of a land owner came to light only after a court directed police to lodge a complaint against sons of BRS secretary general and MP K. Keshav Rao,” Subhash said.
He alleged that the police were also working under fear because when the landowner approached the police, they did not register a case. “Municipal minister K.T. Rama Rao owes a reply to the people about the misuse of power and police by the kin of BRS leaders,” said Subhash.
S. Ram Mohan Reddy, spokesperson for the Congress, said: “This is one sample of corruption practised by BRS leaders which has come to light. They are into cheating, involved in sand mafia, land and mining mafia. These will be exposed once the Congress comes to power.”
“We have seen farmers committing suicide, complaining about their high-handedness. The incident in Nerella village of Rajanna Sircilla district in 2017 had seen Dalits being tortured for questioning the sand mafia. In yet another incident, recently, kids from Nallabelli village of Warangal district were thrown out though they pleaded with a BRS leader to spare their land. These culprits should be brought to book,” the Congress leader said.
