Hyderabad: The famous King Koti palace was turned into a war zone on Monday when scores of people barged into the palace and tried to take its possession.
King Kothi Palace is the place where the last Nizam stayed. The goons were allegedly acting on behalf of jeweller Sukesh Gupta, an accused in several bank and land fraud cases. About 140 persons tried to enter the palace and break open the gate using an earthmover. Some of them even carrying swords and lathis. The city police rushed to the scene and took about 40 people into custody while the others fled.
Police registered a case of trespassing against people who tried to enter the palace and began investigation. Informed Assistant commissioner of police K. Venkat Reddy
Mazhar Khan an automobile shop owner who was passing by narrated that he saw a mob first damaged the yellow gate of Nizam-ki-Devdi with a JCB and around 130 to 140 men, one or two of them armed with swords and the others with lathis, barged into the gate. He added that many of them fled while some who were trying were caught after the police arrived and bolted the gate from inside.
According to Deccan Chronicle, the Nazri Bagh Palace Trust, the custodian of the palace, had handed over the possession of the palace and issued delivery certificate to the Mumbai-based Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt Ltd on March 28 after the company completed the sale transaction. The company also got the registered sale deed released in its favour by clearing all the stamp duty arrears.
Rajesh Agarwal of Neeharika Infrastructure claimed that Sukesh Gupta and Biyani had initially entered into an agreement with the trust and his company later invested Rs 70 crore, cleared all the arrears including the pending amount to be paid to the Trust and took possession of 28,000 square yards.
He also alleged that Sukesh Gupta’s men who were acting as directors had forged board resolutions and sold the property to another company with backdated sale deed. He also informed that the trust after receiving the full sale consideration handed over the possession to us. He asserted that attempts were being made to project as if we were not in possession.
A case had also been registered by the Enforcement Directorate against Sukesh Gupta on charges of money laundering and selling the palace using fraudulent documents and fake sale deeds.
Meanwhile, Neeharika Infrastructure calling it a civil dispute moved a lunch motion in the Telangana High Court seeking a direction to the police to not interfere in the case. The case will be taken up for hearing on Tuesday.
