Jangaon police on Friday arrested 15 members of a gang involved in a massive Rs3.90 crore scam linked to fraudulent land registrations through the Dharani and Bhu Bharati portals in Jangaon and Yadadri districts. Police said nine other accused are absconding.
Warangal Police Commissioner Sunpreet Singh identified Pasunuri Basava Raju and Jella Pandu as the prime accused. The duo allegedly operated online service centres in Yadagirigutta, while another accused, Ganesh Kumar, reportedly connected them to land registration service centres.
According to police, the gang collected registration fees from farmers through MeeSeva operators and online service centres, falsely claiming that challans would be paid using NRI accounts. The money collected was allegedly distributed as commissions to service operators and middlemen, with the remaining amount transferred to the prime accused.
Police seized Rs63.19 lakh in cash, Rs1 lakh from bank accounts, property documents worth about Rs1 crore, a car, two laptops, five desktop computers, and 17 mobile phones.
Investigators said the accused exploited technical glitches in online payment systems, manipulating options on the Dharani and Bhu Bharati portals to reduce challan amounts. They allegedly altered challans using mobile applications, generated forged receipts, paid reduced amounts to the government, and submitted manipulated documents at MRO and registration offices, causing significant revenue loss to the state.
The gang is believed to have fraudulently processed 1,080 land registration documents, bypassing rules that allow registrations only through authorised MeeSeva centres or service providers. Commission payments ranging from 10% to 30% were reportedly made to those involved in the racket.
So far, 22 cases have been registered — seven in Jangaon district and 15 in Yadadri district. Police said efforts are underway to track down and arrest the remaining accused.
