Hyderabad: TRS Uppal MLA, Tahsildar Booked in Land Dispute Case

Hyderabad: Bethi Subhas Reddy, a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) MLA from Uppal, and his colleagues, as well as the Kapra Mandal tahsildar, were arrested by Jawahar Nagar police in Hyderabad on Monday on allegations of attempted murder, criminal intimidation, forgery, and trespassing. Despite the fact that the incident in question occurred on March 16, police did not file an FIR against the politician until May 21st, following court orders.

The dispute involves 90 acres and eight guntas of land in Kapra village that Revenue Department employees claimed to be government property.

On March 16, Kapra tahsildar K Goutham Kumar appeared at a plot (survey number 152) belonging to Julakanti Nagaraju with two JCB vehicles, which led to a confrontation, according to an FIR filed by the Jawahar Nagar police under the Rachakonda Commissionerate.

It was part of their effort, according to the official, to reclaim government territory. Nagaraju, on the other hand, claimed that he had received no prior notice and that a group of men accompanying the revenue officer had removed part of the fence on his property. He also charged one of the men with attempting to assassinate him.

M Srinivas Yadav, Nagaraju's lawyer, said that the politician was attempting to charge a fee to be a mediator between the landowner and the Revenue Department.

 "The tahsildar was with a group of people who claimed to be Revenue Department officials but were in fact associates of the MLA," according to Srinivas. Nagaraju received a call the same evening asking him to "come to a hotel to settle the matter" or face consequences.

"The MLA even offered to mediate to settle the matter if a bribe was paid to him. I have all the proof, which will be submitted to the courts," he added.

The land, according to Srinivas, was given to members of a certain family by the Union government in 1954 under the Displaced Persons Act.

"The members of the family in recent times handed over parts of the 90 acres to a private developmental authority. The matter had gone to court twice, and in both instances, the family won the case. But the Revenue Department has not updated their records which still show it as government land," Srinivas Yadav said.

According to the lawyer, the police have been dilly-dallying over the investigation. "The police were initially hesitant to book the case and an FIR was registered after the court intervened," he said.

The politician disputed the allegations leveled against him in an interview with the media, claiming that he was unrelated to the issue.

"I have no relation to this land grabbing case. The tahsildar called me with information about land grabbing and sought help as he was going to clear the land of encroachers. I have no idea about this land, or the people who have accused me. Let the police enquire and the truth will come out," the politician said.

The politician, his associates, and the tahsildar have been charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), Section 166A (disobeying public servant), Section 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document with intent to cause injury), Section 168 (public servant unlawfully engaging in trade), Section 170 (pretending to hold any particular office as a public servant), Section 171 (wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent), Section 447 (criminal trespass), Section 468 (forgery), Section 471 (dishonesty), Section 307 (attempt to murder) and Section 506 (criminal intimidation).