Ronald Fernandes for Deccan Herald Daily

Mangalore, March 4: As the Mangalore City is growing by leaps and bounds, the land mafia too is growing at the same pace. While one or two cases come to light, many go unnoticed, thanks to the ‘power’ of land mafia. On the contrary, a few bold people try to fight against the injustice meted out to them.

One such case pertains to a certain Aloysius Pinto, a 70-year-old man and a resident of Falneer in the heart of the City. He was living in his huge ancestral house and everything was alright untill August 18, 1996 when a group of people bundled him into an auto, took him to Urwa police station and put him behind the bars in a false case. “I was charged with ‘attempt to murder a man!” he said and added that he was produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody for 13 days.

However, one of his neighbour and Janadhwani People’s Union for Civil Liberties President Melville Pinto, upon learning about the incident filed a complaint of missing with Bunder police station. Investigations revealed that Pinto was in custody and soon he was released on bail only to find his house completely demolished. “Unable to see the scene, Pinto collapsed due to mental shock and immediately, he was hospitalised,” Melville Pinto recalls.

After his discharge from the hospital, Pinto stayed in a hotel for 11 months and then continued to stay in his ancestral property by constructing a single room though he stayed in the 8-room ancestral house for ages, Melville Pinto added.

Another jolt

Pinto suffered another jolt when he learnt that some people were cleaning his 4.35 acre land using JCBs a few days ago. The land, which is also his ancestral property, is located near Kodialbail Press in Maryhill. Out of the 4.35 acres, as much as 50 cents went to the government while constructing the Padavinangady by-pass and 11 cents is in the name of his brother, Fr Fredrick Pinto. The total remaining land in 4.74 acres.

When Pinto learnt that a certain Vikas Education Trust has grabbed his land using forged documents, Aloysius Pinto and Melville Pinto obtained a copy of the RTC on February 23 and to their dismay the said land was in the name of Vikas Education Trust (3.85 acres) and K M Pauline (15 cents).

“While there is no person by the name K M Pauline in the vicinity, a MLA is one of the trustees of Vikas Education Trust,” said Mr Melville Pinto.

Quite interestingly, the forged RTC states that there is 4 acres of land. But in reality, the existing land is less than 4 acres or to be precise, it has to be 3.74 acres!

Assaulted

In the meanwhile, two unidentified youth barged into Mr Pinto’s house on February 25 night, dragged him out and assaulted him. They also set a tyre and dry leaves (in the vicinity) on fire. However, a passerby phoned the fire services who rushed to the spot and doused the fire. A complaint has been filed in this regard in Mangalore North police station.

As a last resort, Aloysius Pinto and Melville Pinto are planning to approach the court on Saturday.

“We will go to court without the help of the lawyer and we will produce all the original documents,” they said and added that they don’t have money to hire the services of a lawyer.