BRS leader’s sons grabbed elderly NRI woman’s land, case filed: Hyderabad Cops

A case was registered against K Viplav Kumar and K Venkateshwara Rao, sons of Keshava Rao, on June 13. However, it came to light on Sunday.

The Hyderabad police have booked a criminal case against two sons of Bharat Rashtra Samithi’s (BRS) leader K Keshava Rao for allegedly grabbing the land of a 72-year-old Non-Resident Indian (NRI) woman in the upscale Banjara Hills by forging her signature, officers familiar with the matter said.

According to the FIR, Jayamala, has been staying in USA along with her family for the last 35 years (HT Photo)

A case was registered against K Viplav Kumar and K Venkateshwara Rao, sons of Keshava Rao, on June 13. However, it came to light on Sunday.

The police booked them under sections 417 (punishment for cheating), 464 (making a false document), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 470 (forged document or electronic record), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) and 128-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the First Information Report (FIR), a copy of which was reviewed by HT, the Banjara Hills police initially refused to register a case against the MP’s sons, when the non-resident Indian, G Jayamala, lodged a complaint on April 12. She even wrote letters to the higher police officials but did not get any response.

“Having no other option, Jayamala moved the 3rd additional chief metropolitan magistrate court, Nampally, which directed the police on April 26 to register the case after due inquiry,” the FIR said.

According to the FIR, Jayamala, who had been staying in New Jersey, USA, along with her family for the last 35 years, owns a piece of land measuring 469 square yards on Road No. 12, Banjara Hills. She used to come to Hyderabad once in a while to look after her properties.

“Taking advantage of her continued absence, both the accused – Viplav Kumar and Venkateshwara Rao, hatched a conspiracy to grab her piece of land by executing a forged and fabricated sale deed dated July 19, 2013 by impersonating her before registration authorities,” the FIR said.

Jayamala got to know about the incident after her husband received an email from the Income Tax (IT) Department on November 30, 2022 as to why a penalty for ₹1.40 crore for the assessment year 2014-15 should not be levied for selling the land at Banjara Hills.

“Perplexed to receive the notice, Jayamala made enquiries with the IT department through her family members. She came to know that her signature was forged and the document was fabricated by the accused for grabbing the valuable property,” the FIR said.

Jayamala availed the services of Truth Labs, a private forensic science laboratory to prove that her signatures did not match the signatures used by the accused. Based on these reports and also evidence to show that she was not present in Hyderabad at the time of execution of sale deed, Jayamala approached the police, the FIR added.

Kesava Rao’s sons could not be reached for their reaction.