Prateek Tanmay
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police recently arrested former Janata Dal (Secular) MLA K S Lingesh and 10 others, including former tahsildars, in connection with an alleged land grab in the Hassan region. The accused allegedly illegally regularised nearly 2,750 acres of government land, valued at over Rs 750 crore, in favour of 1,430 bogus beneficiaries.
Former Belur MLA Lingesh, 66, who previously chaired the Committee for Regularisation of Unauthorised Occupation (Bagair Hukum Saguvali Samithi) in Belur taluk, was arrested on June 19 alongside 10 co-accused. All have been remanded to police custody, CID sources confirmed.
The CID took over the investigation into the alleged land grab, centred in Belur, roughly 250 km from Bengaluru, after a special court for cases against elected representatives ordered an FIR in 2023. The order followed a private complaint filed by activist K C Rajanna, who exposed the irregularities using Right to Information (RTI) documents.
Criminal conspiracy
The complaint alleges that Lingesh, in his capacity as committee chairman, entered into a criminal conspiracy with committee members and revenue officials to distribute government land to fictitious and ineligible people. As many as 15 people have been accused in the case, including former committee members, tahsildars (who served as committee secretaries), village accountants, and revenue inspectors. Investigators state the officials grossly misused their powers under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
The Belur police initially registered the FIR in 2023, after Lingesh lost the assembly polls, in charges of forgery, cheating, criminal breach of trust, and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The CID, which was subsequently handed the probe, is still investigating the case and has yet to file a chargesheet.
High Court remarks
Earlier, the special court rejected the anticipatory bail petitions of Lingesh and four others: Shaila Mohan, Parvath Gowda, Eshwar Prasad, and Ranganath B R, citing a scathing September 2024 order by the Karnataka High Court on the matter.
In that order, dated September 13, 2024, the High Court observed that “persons who were not even from Belur taluk and who had produced fake and bogus certificates” were granted land by the committee.
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“The report of the Tahsildar… and the detailed report of the Assistant Commissioner to the Deputy Commissioner… would unmistakably, albeit prima facie, lead to a conclusion that Government lands are illegally bartered away, as if they are the personal properties of members of the Samiti and the office is treated as their personal fiefdom,” the High Court had observed.
“It is not one, 10 or 100 acres; the lands that are bartered away are 2,750 acres, which was valued at (Rs) 750 crore,” the High Court added, noting that the Bagair Hukum (without order) committee had essentially acted Bagair Kanoon (without law). “This matter would require investigation in the least, as it involves a maze of facts.”
Relying on the High Court’s observations, the special court dismissed the anticipatory bail pleas on October 9, 2024, stating, “The main intention of the legislature to grant lands for unauthorised occupants and to regularise their occupancy would be circumvented if unscrupulous persons are granted lands.”
