Bengaluru: A city civil court in Bengaluru late Wednesday heard a case pertaining to singer-songwriter Lucky Ali, who has accused the relatives and aides of a serving IAS officer, among others, of trying to encroach his land in Bengaluru’s Yelahanka area. The court, however, said it will hear the case again on 16 December before reaching a decision.
Maqsood Ali, who goes by the name Lucky Ali, is the son of iconic yesteryear actor and comedian Mehmood, who died in 2004. Ali rose to frenzied fame in the 1990s after his song ‘O, sanam’ from his debut album Sunoh became a hit.
The singer had Sunday tweeted — tagging the director general of police (Karnataka) — that IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri, her husband Sudhir Reddy and others were part of a “land mafia” and alleged that they were misusing government resources to usurp land that belongs to a trust run by him.
“It was trust property that cannot be sold without the permission of the court. There were certain GPA’s (general power of attorney) that were fabricated by certain people,” said an advocate, who wished to not be named, directly involved in the matter.
He added that several “big builders” with the help of government officials were trying to claim ownership over Ali’s trust property which has a stay order on it since 2007.
Sudhir Reddy has maintained that he purchased the land in 2012 from Mansoor Ali (Lucky Ali’s brother) and his minor daughter Baby Sabrina. “Lucky Ali is an alien to said property which originally belonged to Yeshwanth Shenoy and was sold to Mansoor Ali, who sold it to me,” said Sudhir Reddy.
The two sides have accused each other of using force and intimidation to secure rights over the land.
In Bengaluru — where land prices have soared on account of rapid urbanisation and the entry of IT firms since the turn of the century — land disputes have become a regular affair. Several big builders, musclemen, thugs, and even politicians have been accused of encroaching land through intimidation, force and misuse of government machinery.
In some cases, such fights have even resulted in murder and other grievous injuries to those involved.
The advocate quoted above said that actor Mehmood had purchased 400 acres of land in 1969, of which around 220 acres was lost over the course of time owing to various complications. The remaining area of around 180 acres was in Mehmood’s possession when he came in contact with P. Dayananda Pai of Century builders to sell about 20 acres.
“These three (Dayananda Pai, Satish Pai and Yeshwanth Shenoy) people started taking advantage of Mr Mehmood Ali’s poor health,” the advocate said, adding that they executed illegal GPAs for properties owned by Mehmood beyond the 20 acres he was prepared to sell.
“Due to that fabricated GPA, these people started making transactions left and right when the brothers were not residing here,” the advocate said.
The remaining area of around 160 acres had been distributed by Mehmood to four trusts owned by Mehmood’s children, 33 acres of which were under the trust run by Lucky Ali.
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