Bengaluru ARO suspended for indulging in Khata fraud

The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) has ordered the suspension of K.S. Manjula, Assistant Revenue Officer (ARO) of the Herohalli Sub-Division (Bengaluru West City Corporation), over alleged illegal khata conversion, causing the loss of crores of rupees to the civic body.

The order follows an investigation revealing her direct involvement in a massive, multi-crore illegal khata registration scam. The alleged fraudulent activities came to light following a detailed complaint filed by N.R. Ramesh, former Bengaluru South district BJP president and former councillor.

The complaint alleged that Ms. Manjula had flouted statutory regulations to issue illegal ‘A-Khatas’ and ‘e-Khatas’ for over 50 individual plots located within an unauthorised layout. The properties are situated under Survey No. 56/1 in Herohalli village, Yeshwantpur hobli.

Subsequent investigations conducted by civic officials allegedly confirmed severe, deliberate lapses.

The investigation exposed manipulation of the State’s ‘e-Aasthi’ electronic property registration platform. Ms. Manjula allegedly utilised digital property IDs (ePIDs) belonging to completely unrelated properties to execute fraudulent mutations.

After the land’s original owner, B.H. Gangaiah passed away in December 2024; his legal heirs applied for a family tree inheritance transfer, a ’Pouthi Khata’, in 2025.

Instead of updating the original property records, the ARO allegedly illegally overwrote 76 existing ePIDs registered under completely different names, such as “BEECHBS” and “Priyadarshini”, illegally transferring them to Gangaiah’s heirs without valid title deeds.

The ARO is alleged to have actively bypassed a circular issued by the then BBMP Chief Commissioner, which prohibits any unauthorised subdivision or splitting of property Khatas without competent administrative approvals.

Consequently, the GBA has suspended Ms. Manjula under Rule 10 of the KCS (CCA) Rules, 1957, pending a departmental inquiry. In addition, the GBA has directed its revenue team to approach the local police station to file a criminal complaint under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 318 (cheating), 338 (forgery), and the section dealing with criminal breach of trust by a public servant and also criminal conspiracy.