Varanasi: 'Baba ki bagiya', a beautiful 62,000 square-feet garden from where flowers were arranged for the Kashi Vishwanath Temple till two decades ago, has been freed of encroachment.
Owned by a Tamil Nadu-based organisation, the land was occupied by the mafia and given on rent for parties.
On Thursday, the Varanasi Police Commissionerate freed it from landgrabbers who were using this piece of land commercially.
Police Commissioner A. Satish Ganesh, said: "The land has a pure atmosphere reverberating with Vedic chants. After years, worship has started in the temple that exists on this land. Now, flowers will bloom soon in this garden to be used at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple."
This piece of land worth Rs 300 crore in Mahmoorganj area had been under illegal possession of two mafia brothers, who are the sons of a retired police officer, since 2003.
The land is owned by Sri Kasi Nattukkottai Nagara Satram (SKNNS), the Tamil Nadu-based organisation working to arrange 'bhog-prasad' at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple for 209 years. They cultivated flowers in this piece of land for the daily puja of the deity.
The SKNNS has its headquarters in Shivganga and its Varanasi office is located in Godowlia area.
The society of the Chettiar community has a committee to look after the work of SKNNS.
The land mafia had started encroaching this land in 2003 by constructing a wall.
The SKNNS office-bearers met the police commissioner with a complaint. He said that through an illegal agreement, two persons had encroached on the entire land in the name of purchasing the lodge, which existed in a 4,000 square-feet area, in 2003.
Later, they also stopped the entry of SKNNS people by locking the gate.
The Sigra police on May 11 had lodged an FIR against Anand Mohan Yadav a.k.a. Guddu, who had contested the 2017 Assembly elections on an SP ticket from Shivpur seat, and his two brothers Krishna Mohan Yadav and Sanjay Yadav for illegally capturing the land.
They were booked under section 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 447 (criminal trespass), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (committing forgery for the purpose of cheating), 504 (intentional insult), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC. —IANS