Army officer lands in CBI net for Rs 500 crore scam

CBI officials said that the accused officials had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy between 2004 and 2016.

An Army official along with some officers of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) were booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation in an illegal land transfer case. It is alleged that the officials and a private person had illegally transferred land worth around Rs 500 crore to the private person against the decision of the MoD between 2004 and 2006.

"The CBI has registered a case against Lt Col, M.G. Thimmaiah, the then estate manager, Estate Management Unit (EMU), C.V. Raman Nagar, DRDO Township, Bengaluru, some unknown officers of the DRDO and N H Rustumji under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) r/w 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 13 (2) (punishment for criminal misconduct by a public servant) r/w 13 (1 (d) (abuse of office by a public servant for obtaining a valuable thing or pecuniary advantage for self or any other person without any public interest) of Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, 1988.

In 1989 based on a request by the DRDO the State government had notified 97 acres of land in Benniganhalli, K.R. Puram hobli in Bengaluru East taluk. However between 1994 and 1996 the State government denotified 44 acres of the land without informing the Central government.

The Centre had challenged the denotification in the Karnataka High Court, which had upheld the DRDO's contention. The case was later contested in the Supreme Court by private land owners in various civil appeals.

Criminal conspiracy:

CBI officials said that the accused officials had allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy between 2004 and 2016. They allegedly cheated the Union of India by transferring 12 acres and one gunta of land in favour of the private person against the decision taken by the Ministry of Defence.

The Lt Col had abused his official position in as much as that, when the matter (related to the land in question) was sub judice before the Supreme Court he had submitted a joint memo to be filed before the SC, which was different from the joint memo approved by the competent authority, the complaint also read.

The CBI on Monday conducted searches at seven places including the residential and official premises of the accused persons at Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kodagu district. CBI officials say that they have recovered some incriminating documents relating to the case.

OneIndia News