Left: Lokamatha D S, Assistant Commissioner and in-charge Revenue Officer, Kengeri Division. Right: Basavaraj Magi, Assistant Commissioner and in-charge Revenue Officer, K R Puram Division. File photos (collage)
Bengaluru: Halasurgate police have registered two First Information Reports against two Assistant Commissioners of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), who were in charge of revenue work in their divisions, and several private applicants. The FIRs allege that more than 100 new e-Khatas were approved on documents that were not what they were claimed to be. Both officers had already been suspended by the GBA.
The FIRs, numbers 207/2026 and 208/2026, were registered on 9 November on a written complaint by Munish Moudgil, IAS (1998 batch), Special Commissioner (Revenue and IT), GBA. They invoke Sections 61(2), 316(5), 318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 340 and 201 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the provisions on criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, cheating and forgery among them. The place of offence is shown as the respective Assistant Commissioner’s office.
Explaining the case, Mr Moudgil said it is essentially one of fraudulent collusion between private builders or applicants and the two in-charge Revenue Officers to get new e-Khatas for newly constructed flats, which are not eligible for them under the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act. The method, he said, was to misuse the SARFAESI module, which is meant only for banks to create e-Khatas for mortgaged properties they have taken possession of under the SARFAESI Act and later auction. Instead of the mandatory SARFAESI order, he said, the builders and applicants uploaded unrelated registered documents such as Joint Development Agreements and other deeds.
He said that, more seriously, the two officers knowingly went ahead and issued the e-Khatas even though the documents were clearly not SARFAESI orders and did not meet the module’s requirements. This, he said, is a clear violation of Section 147 of the Act. In his words, the matter prima facie discloses not merely serious misconduct and abuse of official position, but also forgery, fraud and other criminal offences, warranting thorough investigation and stringent action against all those involved.
FIR 207/2026: Kengeri Division, Bengaluru West City Corporation
The first FIR names Lokamatha D S, Assistant Commissioner and in-charge Revenue Officer of the Kengeri Division, as the first accused, along with four private persons. It says six new e-Khatas were approved through her e-Aasthi login between 29 December 2025 and 15 June 2026, all in old wards 130 and 198.
FIR 208/2026: K R Puram Division, Bengaluru East City Corporation
The second FIR names Basavaraj Magi, Assistant Commissioner and in-charge Revenue Officer of the K R Puram Division, as the first accused, along with 32 private persons. It says 98 e-Khatas were approved through his login between 29 January and 19 June 2026. Of these, 85 were in the Horamavu sub-division and 13 in the K R Puram sub-division, covering wards 25, 26, 51, 52 and 53.
What the complaint alleges
The complaint says the Greater Bengaluru Governance Act, 2024 bars the entry of buildings and vacant land created after 30 September 2024 in the corporation’s property tax registers. A government order of 25 July 2025 and circulars of 3 October 2024 and 7 January 2025 bar B-Khata for flats built after that date. The date a valid BESCOM connection was obtained is treated as the date of construction.
It says a technical and back-end examination of the SARFAESI module found, prima facie, that 110 new e-Khatas were approved with no SARFAESI order or documents, and for ineligible properties. Of these, six were approved through Ms Lokamatha’s login and 98 through Mr Magi’s.
In the Kengeri cases, applicants uploaded the following in place of a SARFAESI sale certificate:
- a document titled “Sale Certificate” (two cases, authenticity to be verified);
- Joint Development Agreements (three cases);
- a plan, sale deed, building licence and e-Khata copy (one case).
The complaint adds that in the two “sale certificate” cases no bank authorised anyone to present them, and that an e-Khata issued on one of them was later cancelled.
In the K R Puram cases, the documents uploaded in place of a SARFAESI certificate were:
- sale deeds or other deeds (58);
- joint development agreements (21);
- amalgamation deeds (10);
- partition deeds (4);
- gift deeds (2);
- an encumbrance certificate (1);
- a sale deed with an encumbrance certificate (1);
- one document titled “Sale Certificate”, authenticity to be verified (1).
The complaint says scrutiny officers, case workers, Assistant Revenue Officers and Revenue Inspectors had noted problems in several K R Puram files. These included no sale deed or encumbrance certificate being uploaded, a site area that did not match, only a joint development agreement being available, or BESCOM details not matching. It says Mr Magi approved the applications regardless, with remarks such as “RI Report Negative but … I have exercised my power as the Approving Authority and Approved B Khatha”. It counts 31 cases where approval was granted despite an adverse Revenue Inspector report.
It also alleges that B-Khatas were approved citing “proxy tax collection purpose”, which it says has no legal basis. It points to many approvals within minutes: between 1:15 pm and 2:44 pm on 30 May 2026, and between 5:03 pm and 5:21 pm on 13 June 2026.
The complaint says the approvals violate Section 147 of the Act, which is punishable under Section 319, and caused financial loss to the government and the corporation by letting applicants avoid the prescribed fees. It cites the Supreme Court’s 15 July 2025 decision in G. Mohandas v. State of Kerala, which upheld an FIR against municipal officers accused of colluding with a citizen on fraudulent documents, and says the same reasoning applies here.
Suspension before the FIRs
The GBA had suspended both officers earlier. Mr Magi’s order is dated 3 November and Ms Lokamatha’s 4 November. Each cites “grave dereliction of duty” and criminal acts under the BNS. Each also:
- orders a departmental inquiry;
- suspends the officer with immediate effect under Rule 10 of the Karnataka Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1957;
- fixes the headquarters at the GBA Chief Commissioner’s office and bars leaving it without permission;
- makes the officer eligible for subsistence allowance under Rule 98 of the Karnataka Civil Services Rules.
The orders were issued by the Joint Commissioner (Administration) with the Chief Commissioner’s approval.
The FIRs record allegations only. No court has found anyone guilty, and the investigation is under way.
The Bengaluru Live sent WhatsApp messages to both officers seeking their reaction. By the time this report was published, no response had been received from either of them. This report will be updated as and when their responses are received.
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