When green land turns yellow

BANGALORE: Bangalore Development Authority's (BDA) Masterplan 2015 has been mired in controversy from the word go. The very purpose of the masterplan regulations has been defeated -- meddling with the zones -- by the who's who in the corridors of power and the realty sector.
A probe into the transactions of a big player in real estate, carried out by the Income Tax investigations wing, has led to the expose.Besides an undisclosed income of Rs 168.44 crore, it has come to light that vast expanses of land under `valley zone' in the masterplan were changed to `residential' and sold to the developer.
According to sources, more than 50 acres earmarked under valley zone were changed to residential -- yellow zone -- at the behest of politicians in power during H D Kumaraswamy's tenure as chief minister. The talk is that `the masterplan helped fund the 2008 assembly elections'.
Valley zones are open areas earmarked for water flow. No construction is allowed there.
HOW THE SLEUTHS CRACKED IT
* There was information that a real estate player, based in North India, was foraying into the Bangalore market in a big way
* The investigation wing made discreet enquiries and conducted decoy runs in the developer's offices
* The sleuths collected details about where and from whom the developer bought land, the rate and the area
* They also obtained copies of MoUs executed between the developer and land owners
* Agreements were entered into for purchase of 150 acres in Jigani, Rajapura and Begur; it was found that 90 acres had already been registered, with the sellers making huge profits on the sale
* I-T officials searched the premises of the sellers, government officials and a powerful middleman; the search showed the sellers had not maintained proper records, including books of accounts
* Their modus-operandi was to decide at the end of the year on the amount to be shown as profit, prepare books of account to match that figure
* Large number of incriminating documents were seized
* Post-search inquiries conducted at various land registration authorities, banks, etc
* During the first interface with the investigating officials, the developer submitted that its profit in the land deals would aggregate to only Rs 10 crore. However, when confronted with the seized material and other evidence unearthed, the group admitted to an undisclosed income of Rs 168.44 crore
"The land deals had a lot to do with masterplan manipulations. The land use was changed in certain areas upon instructions from cabinet ministers in the previous government. While the politicians got away, it's the officials and landlords who are in the dock".