Realty trouble

While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may have come to grips with a scary law and order situation that existed in the hey day of the Laloo Yadav regime, economic development has brought its own share of grief – the emergence of realty sector dons who are mushrooming in the state with a vengeance.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Bihar tops the list of states when it comes to property-related crime. The statistics talk for themselves. In 2004, 769 persons in the state were murdered over property issues. That figure has showed an upward trend; 825 killed in 2008, 836 in 2009, 916 in 2010 and 1,041 murders in 2011.

It compares favourably with some neighbouring states. In much bigger Uttar Pradesh, there were a total of 138 such killings in 2011 and the Madhya Pradesh toll in property related crimes stood at 332 for the same year.

In other words, 3,618 people were killed in Bihar over property disputes in four years between 2008 to 2011.  Mathematically, or on an average, three persons are killed every day over land issues which is by far the highest in the country. Any surprises here?

The growth of the real estate industry and skyrocketing prices of land have paved the way for the new ‘bhais’ of the business, criminals who have spotted an opportunity to turn legitimate by opening up posh realty firms. Its fallout has been violence and the state’s landscape is littered with disputes that can only be settled with the help of guns. The state police – if it is not directly involved in the murky goings on – have chosen to look the other way.

In capital Patna and the state’s major cities and towns, Motihari, Raxaul, Muzzafarpur, Bhagalpur and Gaya, criminal-turned politicians have penetrated the real estate sector with the help of the police-politician nexus.

In a state planning big on urban development, the ground is ideally fertile for the dons to move in. Apart from modern residential quarters and flats, the Bihar government has many plans to provide the capital the metro look.

The plans, currently lying in the files of the town development department, include the construction of a Marine Drive on the banks of the Ganges. A plan for developing ‘Greater Patna’ is on the anvil. The proposed plan will cover vast areas of rural Patna and nearby towns like Bihta, which has been declared an industrial area and is the site of a proposed dry port. It is fast emerging as a builders’ hub where vast tracts of cultivable land is being acquired either by the government or directly by realty ‘companies’ themselves.

Naturally, such lucrative exploitation of land is not going to come easy – and certainly not by peaceful means. Consider some typical property shootouts:

***On June 2 this year, school teacher Eugene John killed his wife Angina alias Anju over property dispute and later committed suicide under Patna’s Digha police station.
*** Village headman Jainendra Mandal was burnt alive in a brick-kiln in connection with a land dispute under the Dhamdaha police station in Purnea
*** A Motihari-based engineer was shot dead by Vikku Shukla in Muzzafarpur. Vikku was aide to former don Chhotan Shukla and has launched a firm which ‘specialises’ in land brokerage
*** In Muzaffarpur, a village headman Indrajeet Singh was shot dead even as he had began negotiating a land dispute.
*** In the same city, a young woman Navrunna is missing since the last seven months. In an FIR, her father has alleged the role of land grabbers.

Such is the fear of the land mafia that even the police admit things are getting out of hand. According to the Bihar director general of police (DGP) Abhayanand, “50 per cent murders are related to land dispute.’’ He should know.

Escalating property prices and the resultant spiral of violence has been so acute that the state government has been left with no option but to constitute a special tribunal in October 2012 to examine this new trend. In the last six months or so, the tribunal has received 200 cases with 40 cases reportedly disposed off; the rest are under investigation of the tribunal.

Says Mridula Mishra, tribunal chairperson, “We are going to survey every inch of land. All courts, from the lower courts to the High Court, are overburdened by land disputes and title suits.’’ Concurs a former judge, “the graph of such cases is increasing by the day and the court feels helpless to disburse justice.’’ Fair point.

According to a state intelligence official, “Owing to rising graph over land disputes and murders, the government has directed the CID to collect facts and get to the root of the problem. The number of cases and causes are being studied by concerned departments in each district and a report would be submitted shortly to the state police headquarters.”

Confirming the decision to collect land dispute data, additional director general of police (headquarters) Ravindra Kumar Singh told this magazine that the police are seized of this problem. “The Bihar Police is already in the process of confiscating properties of some criminals who have amassed wealth using their muscle power. The names of some criminals have already surfaced. On our hit list are notorious criminals cum property dealers, Reet Lal Yadav, Pintu Singh and Mintu Singh, whose ill gotten wealth will be confiscated by the state government.’’

Senior superintendent of police, Patna, Manu Maharaj told TSI that Reet Lal Yadav had unsuccessfully contested the last assembly elections from Danapur while behind bars. Dreaded Pinto Singh too had contested the panchyat elections and now intends to fight assembly elections from Masaurhi. With cases of some police personnel being in cahoots with criminals, the dye has well and truly been cast for the state’s burgeoning real estate sector.

sanjayupadhya@thesundayindian.com