Tension in Chikkamagalur over demolition of house, hotel on disputed land

CHIKKAMAGALUR: Tension prevailed in the town on Tuesday morning when members of the Muslim community demolished a hotel and a house on land belonging to the Nallur Math claiming a court order. However, police arrived on the scene and dispersed the crowd and sent back the excavator.

The Nallur math family and the Jamia Masjid committee are involved in a legal battle over land allegedly belonging to the Bada Makan. On hearing about the demolition, the Nallur Math family arrived on the scene and opposed the demolition, leading to a war of words with the Bada Makan committee members.

Claiming that they have a court order in their favour, the Bada Makan committee members descended on the disputed land around 8 am along with about 250 youths and excavators without informing the police or the town municipal corporation. They suddenly started demolition, leading to damage to a house and a hotel.

Leaders of the BJP and Hindu groups have demanded that the loss should be compensated and the damaged buildings rebuilt. They also demanded that the excavators be seized and cases registered against those involved in the demolition.

Meanwhile, the Nallur Math family claimed that 17,000 sqft of land is registered in their name and that they have all the records. They said that their ancestors had gifted a part of the land for construction of a masjid and now the masjid committee had forged documents and is staking claim to the entire piece of land, they alleged.

About one-and-half years ago, a survey was conducted on the land following court orders and police superintendent Vikram Amate had also held a peace meeting.