• Eight CCTV cameras and the only Digital Video Recorder missing
• Destruction of evidence suspected

Mysuru: The site allocation scam engulfing the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) has deepened with a shocking twist: CCTV cameras and a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) installed at the MUDA Commissioner’s official residence have mysteriously vanished.

The disappearance of the hard drive, which contains video evidence of MUDA documents and people moving in and out of the Commissioner’s residence has led many to suspect ‘destruction of evidence’ to obstruct investigation of the MUDA scam.

This marks a sinister escalation in the scandal, where officials not only openly defied regulations but now appear to be covering their tracks by erasing key evidence of their misconduct.

The official residence of the MUDA Commissioner, located near Apollo BGS Hospitals on Adichunchanagiri Road in Kuvempunagar, is commonly referred to as the ‘home office.’

The post of MUDA Chairman is typically handed to a loyalist of the ruling party, often someone from Mysuru. Given that the appointee usually has a house in the city, the official residence is seldom used — except for occasions when the Commissioner seeks a quiet retreat or needs to hold secret meetings.

In the past MUDA Commissioners used to be IAS Officers but since over a decade for some reason KAS Officers came to occupy that office.

It is a common practice for files that remain pending during office hours to be brought to the Commissioner’s residence by the staff, where the Commissioner reviews and clears them after office hours.

Bypassing office procedures

Insiders at MUDA reveal that during the tenures of Dr. D.B. Natesh and G.T. Dinesh Kumar as MUDA Commissioners, they, along with their close associates and an inner circle of officers, routinely approved site allocations on a 50:50 basis. They would then issue official notifications and memorandums from their home offices, often after office hours.

Dinesh Kumar, in particular, is reported to have bypassed the official process and prepared unauthorised notifications and memorandums fully from his home office both day and night. According to MUDA insiders, he was heavily involved in allocating prime sites in Mysuru based on personal preferences and whims.

Avoiding public scrutiny

It is alleged that every night, intermediaries, real estate entrepreneurs and close associates would frequent the Commissioner’s home office. However, to avoid attracting public scrutiny, they would park their vehicles on nearby streets, maintaining a discreet distance from the Commissioner’s official residence.

For security purposes, eight CCTV cameras were installed at the front, exterior and rear of the MUDA Commissioner’s home office, along with a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) system capable of storing up to three months of footage.

During periods when land allocations at a 50:50 ratio, along with incentive and alternative site approvals, were being processed more aggressively at the home office, there was a noticeable surge in visitors to the Commissioner’s home office, often late into the night.

Wiping out evidence

DVR may have captured crucial footage of these activities. Consequently, there is a growing suspicion within MUDA that the CCTV cameras and DVR were deliberately removed to destroy potential technical evidence of these illicit operations.

The visible, disconnected wires at the locations where the CCTV cameras and DVR were once installed at the MUDA Commissioner’s home office confirm that these security devices had been operational and have been disconnected now.

However, their sudden disappearance raises a critical question: Did the engineers responsible for maintaining the equipment or the officers responsible for maintaining stock books and other valuable inventory or even the security staff not notice their absence? If they did, why was the matter not reported to the Police? This glaring oversight remains a perplexing and suspicious issue.

Officials unaware

There are also claims that valuable furniture has gone missing from the MUDA Commissioner’s official residence. However, R. Srinivas, the Assistant Executive Engineer of the Building Division, told Star of Mysore that he is unaware of any such incidents.

Assistant Engineer Cheluvaraju revealed that when he assumed responsibility for the Commissioner’s quarters, no stock list was provided, and the CCTV cameras and DVR were not included, suggesting that he was not accountable for these items.

Meanwhile, Suresh, the Assistant Engineer of the Electrical Division, clarified that his duties are limited to paying electric bills and maintaining the generator, and he has no knowledge of the cameras, DVR or other electronic equipment.

In that case, the pressing question arises: Who exactly is responsible for the maintenance of MUDA property, including the Commissioner’s home office? Is there no designated authority to report or investigate the disappearance of these items? The lack of accountability surrounding the missing equipment and furniture points to serious lapses in oversight and raises concerns about the management of MUDA assets.

Meanwhile, it appears that repairs are also underway at the official residence of the MUDA Commissioner.

‘Will investigate the issue’

“I will thoroughly investigate the disappearance of the CCTV cameras, DVR, and some furniture items from the Commissioner’s official residence and seek information from the relevant authorities. The responsibility for managing these assets lies with the Building Division, and it appears they were not recorded in the stock book nor checked during the transition of Commissioners. As managing Government building assets is also part of our duty, I will take the necessary steps to address this issue,” said the present MUDA Commissioner A.N. Raghunandan.

MUDA Commissioners had a Special Home Office !

It is now coming to light that as more and more illegal sites were allotted and as such transactions increased, the MUDA Commissioners found it difficult to conduct ‘business’ in their official home office and had allegedly rented an apartment and a house to conduct ‘illegal business.’

It has been alleged that one Commissioner had rented an apartment on Lalitha Mahal Road where he would conduct business post 8 pm.

SOM spoke to some residents of the apartment who confirmed that they had indeed seen the MUDA Commissioner in the apartment on the ground floor where a stream of people would often visit with file folders. They said the Commissioner was seen in the apartment till late in the night after which he would lock up and leave the premises.

Another Commissioner, it seems, had rented a house in Dattagalli where he too, like his predecessor, would conduct business for his ‘special customers.’

Sources in Mysuru real estate market and in the MUDA Office told SOM that one of the Commissioners would hardly come to the office and had made his ‘Special Home Office’ the unofficial MUDA Commissioner’s Office !