The Telangana Crime Investigation Department (CID) has arrested four persons, including a Bhu Bharati portal operator, in connection with an alleged land record manipulation case involving three acres of land valued at more than ₹90 crore in Kollur, near Hyderabad.
The arrests followed searches conducted by CID teams at multiple locations as part of a wider investigation into alleged irregularities in the state’s digital land-record management systems.
The accused have been identified as Dade Shiva, Mangali Rajender, Dade Pavan Kalyan and A. Mahesh. They were arrested in connection with a case registered in July at Ramachandrapuram Police Station in Sangareddy district and were remanded to judicial custody.
Three Acres of Land Allegedly Transferred Without Approval
- According to the complaint filed by the Ramachandrapuram Tahsildar, officials noticed suspicious activity while examining the login credentials of a Bhu Bharati portal operator.
- During verification, authorities reportedly discovered that three acres of land in Kollur village, previously recorded in another person’s name, had been mutated in favour of B. Vinod Kumar by citing a registered document.
- However, the Tahsildar reportedly found that the mutation application had not appeared in the official processing system before June 27, 2026.
- The complaint further stated that no application had been submitted for scrutiny, no field inquiry had been conducted, no mutation proposal had been prepared and no official approval had been granted.
- Under the Bhu Bharati Act, 2025, the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) is the designated authority for approving land mutations.
- Investigators suspect that unauthorised access to the digital portal may have been used to alter land ownership records without following prescribed procedures.
CID Conducts Searches Across Multiple Districts
- As part of the investigation, 15 special CID teams reportedly conducted simultaneous searches at several locations, including Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medchal-Malkajgiri, Vikarabad, Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri, Jangaon and Siddipet.
- Several portal operators, private individuals and other suspected persons were questioned.
- Investigators are examining digital records, login credentials, IP addresses and transaction histories to establish how unauthorised changes were allegedly made to land ownership details.
Special Enquiry Team Investigates Dharani Irregularities
- The state government constituted a seven member Special Enquiry Team (SET), headed by senior IPS officer Charu Sinha, to investigate alleged irregularities associated with the Dharani land-records portal and related systems.
- The team is examining private contractor selection, tendering procedures, contract awards, portal design, system architecture and possible data security weaknesses.
- According to reports, a forensic audit flagged more than 10,000 suspicious transactions dating from the launch of the Dharani portal in October 2020 to December 2024.
Investigation May Cover More Land-Record Cases
- The CID investigation is not limited to the Kollur property. Authorities are also examining allegations involving valuable land parcels in several districts, including suspected irregular changes to ownership records and transfers involving assigned and Bhoodan lands.
- The investigation aims to establish how the alleged irregularities occurred, identify those responsible and determine whether additional individuals were involved.
- The CID investigation is continuing.
