A land grabbing case against Congress leader Sam Pitroda has been filed, alleging illegal occupation of 12.35 acres of forest land for over 14 years, involving fraud and corruption accusations.
BENGALURU: A land grabbing case has been filed against Congress leader Sam Pitroda, a close associate of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, in the Land Grabbing Prohibition Special Court in Bengaluru. The complaint was lodged by Ramesh NR, former BBMP leader and President of the Anti-Corruption Forum.
The case, filed under Section 4(2) of the Karnataka Land Grabbing Prohibition Act 2011, alleges that Pitroda and others have illegally occupied 12.35 acres of reserved forest land in Jarakabande Kaval, near Yelahanka, Bengaluru, for over 14 years without a valid lease.
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According to the petition, Sam Pitroda registered FRLHT (Foundation for Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions) in Mumbai in 1996 and leased 5 hectares of forest land from the Karnataka Forest Department. The lease, initially for five years, was renewed in 2001 for another 10 years. However, since 2011, the lease has not been renewed, yet Pitroda and others continue to occupy the land illegally, Ramesh alleged.
The complaint claims that the government land, valued at Rs 150 crore (market value over Rs 300 crore), is being used to generate an illegal income of Rs 5-6 crore annually by selling rare medicinal plants and their products.
Furthermore, the petition alleges that a large unauthorized building has been constructed on the reserved forest land to operate an Ayurvedic hospital named I-AIM (Institute of Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine) illegally.
On February 24, Ramesh filed complaints with the Lokayukta and Enforcement Directorate (ED), accusing Pitroda and others of government land grabbing, fraud, corruption, and abuse of power.
The case has also been filed against former Additional Chief Secretary of Karnataka’s Forest Department Javed Akhtar (IAS Retd.), along with senior officials RK Singh, Sanjay Mohan, N Ravindra Kumar, and SS Ravishankar for allegedly aiding in the scam.
Sam Pitroda, originally from Odisha, is a former advisor to India’s Telecom Department and worked under former Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and Manmohan Singh.
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