A fake letter was allegedly used to cancel a gift deed handing over 5.13 acres of OSR land in a residential layout at Nemili near here to claim a compensation of ₹13.68 crore as compensation from the National Highways Authority of India.
The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption has booked industrialist V.G.S. Amaladas Rajesh, one of the partners of VGP Investments Ltd.; K. Narmada, the then Special District Revenue Officer (Land Acquisition), National Highways (Chennai-Bengaluru Express Highway); P. Meena and P. Gomathi, the then Special Tahsildhars (Land Acquisition), Sriperumbudur; R. Varadarajan, the then Sub-Inspector of Survey, Kancheepuram district; R. Ravi, the then Sub-Registrar (in-charge), Sriperumbudur; and others on charges of colluding to cause a loss of ₹13,68,18,871 to the highways authorities.
The DVAC case is that VGP Investments Ltd. formed a layout of house sites in Nemili and Ayakolathur villages of Sriperumbudur taluk in Kancheepuram district. The company registered OSR land or common area to the extent of 2,24,016 sq. ft. in the two villages in favour of the Commissioner, Panchayat Union, Sriperumbudur.
Four-lane project
In the year 2017, the NHAI started land acquisition to widen the existing Chennai-Bengaluru national highway to a four-lane expressway from Sriperumbudur to Bengaluru. Mr. Rajesh, one of the partners in the partnership firm of V.G. Panneerdas & Co and VGP Investments Ltd., with a wrongful intention of getting compensation from the government, created a fake document of OSR lands in Kancheepuram district.
VGP Investments Ltd. and some real estate brokers created a fake letter dated January 4, 2018 in the name of the Block Development Officer, Sriperumbudur, addressed to the Sub-Registrar, Sriperumbudur, that 2,24,016 sq. ft. of open space area land for public usage was given by mistake in the gift deed and there was no objection from the BDO/Commissioner, Sriperumbudur, to cancel the gift deed, the DVAC said in its First Information Report.
Gift deed cancelled
On the same day, the Sub-Registrar, Sriperumbudur, registered the cancellation deed unilaterally without getting any government order or verifying the genuineness of the no- objection certificate. The accused persons then approached the highways authorities and received the compensation amount for the land acquisition. The Sub-Registrar, who had knowledge of the OSR registration deed, cancelled it paving the way for the real estate brokers to get huge compensation from the government and for getting personal benefits, the DVAC said.
The investigating agency has accused the Special DRO and Special Tahsildhars of colluding with the industrialist and real estate brokers and initiated proceedings for getting the compensation. The Special DRO, who was the competent authority, sanctioned the compensation without applying her mind causing wrongful loss to the government.