Land grabbing case
By Our Reporter
Shillong: A lower court on Friday dismissed a case against former State Additional Advocate General SP Mahanta related to a complaint of land grabbing.
Tushar Nath Bhattacharjee, an NRI, had filed the case in the court alleging that Mahanta had forged signatures and produced illegal documents to take over his land at Lachumiere in the city. The lower court in its verdict here on Friday said that as the plaintiff has failed to prove his case, he is not entitled to the relief claimed.
It may be noted that a legal suit was filed in the Shillong District Court in April 2004 by Bhattacharjee and his two sisters against Mahanta and his wife for alleged illegal encroachment of 14,285 sq feet of their property at Lachumiere.
The plaintiff, later, filed a fresh petition in the Shillong Bench of the Guwahati High Court on May 27, 2009 pointing out the inordinate delay in the case and requesting expeditious proceedings, following which the case was transferred to the court of the East Khasi Hills District Magistrate.
The court in its order on Friday said the suit has been filed by the plaintiff ‘falsely and veraciously by suppression of necessary facts with a view to harass the defendants’.
Bhattacharjee is now contemplating to pursue the case in a higher court.
The alleged land grabbing case had also echoed in the State Assembly with the Opposition NCP raising the issue and demanding action against Mahanta. The government subsequently asked Mahanta to relinquish his post.