The Karnataka Police on Monday arrested a man who attempted to grab 512 acres of forest land in Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru after obtaining court orders based on fake documents, following a case registered by the Mudigere police.
The person has been identified as M B Nemanna Gowda, also called M B Manmatha.
“In this regard, on November 28, the assistant conservator of forests of the Forest Department had filed a complaint at the Mudigere Police Station, and later the tahsildar had also filed a complaint in this regard,” Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre said Tuesday.
The police FIR against Gowda was registered under sections of the Indian Penal Code for forgery and impersonation as well as the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, on December 13 at the Mudigere police station.
Earlier, the forest minister had written to CM Siddaramaiah seeking a Crime Investigation Department (CID) or Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged role of officials and government lawyers facilitating the grab of government and forest land worth crores of rupees in Chikkamagaluru and Bengaluru after obtaining court orders based on fake documents.
The minister said that the value of land involved in the alleged land grab, including reserved forest land in B M Kaval in south Bengaluru, is over ₹25,000 crore.
“M.B. Nemanna Gowda @ M.B. Manmatha has filed a writ petition in the High Court and has obtained an order to transfer the documents of a total of 532 acres of land, including 482 acres of reserved forest land, allegedly allotted to him under the Inam Abolition Act to his name within three months,” the forest minister had stated.
Story continues below this ad
The government remained in the dark during the proceedings, which led to the HC order, and was informed only at the penultimate moment after the 90-day period to file appeals regarding the land grab attempt lapsed, Khandre said in his letter to the CM.
The forest department, after being alerted to the attempted land grab, has issued orders for the filing of an appeal. “Manmatha alias Nemanna Gowda has also tried to claim government land by giving false and fake documents in the past,” the minister has stated.
“As soon as the matter came to my notice, I ordered for a complaint to be registered. The fact that the Mudigere Police Circle Inspector, who received the complaint on 28.11.2025, has not registered an FIR so far is also a reason for suspicion,” Khandre said.
“It appears that some officials and government lawyers are directly and indirectly helping those who are grabbing government and forest land worth thousands of crores of rupees,” the forest minister stated in the letter.
