25 April,2011 06:39 AM IST | | Imran Gowhar
Crucial evidence in an important land dispute case stolen from court administrative officer; cops believe it's an attempt to derail proceedings
A Document related to a land dispute case has gone missing from the custody of the court officer of the Additional City Civil and Session's Court in what is believed to be an attempt to derail proceedings.
Incident came to light during hearing of the case, when court officials checked files before the beginning of proceedings
K S Lokeshappa, administrative officer of the court has filed a complaint with the Ashok Nagar police station in this connection. According to him, the documents marked as 'Exp P 10 (OS No 26530/2007)', was crucial evidence in an important land dispute case, and was in the custody of the court officer.
"The document in the form of sale deed submitted to the court by a complainant was crucial evidence and someone might have stolen it deliberately to derail the proceedings," he said.
The incident came to light during hearing of the case, when the court officials checked the files before the beginning of proceedings. "We discovered that the sale deed was missing, while other documents in the file were intact," Lokeshappa said.
Officials informed the magistrate immediately and massive search was initiated, but all attempts to locate the document failed. The Ashok Nagar police have taken up the case. "We suspect foul play and have questioned the court staff," said Lakshmi Devi, police-sub-inspector, who's handling the case.
Meanwhile, officials of the vigilance department expressed shock, stating that this is the first timeu00a0 that documents have been stolen from the court's custody. "This not only shows negligence on the part of the staff, but also indicates foul play is involved," an official said.
Lawyer held for robbery
In November 2010, Narayanaswamy (27), a lawyer, well aware of punishment for breaking laws, along with his friend Deregouda (28), was nabbed for breaking into Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) office in Gandhi Nagar by using a duplicate key. The duo was attempting to steal a file pertaining to a 200-acre plot in Mahadevkodigehalli village near Chikkajala that KIADB officials had recently acquired.
