Adilabad: District police have cracked down on private moneylenders accused of exploiting the state’s Dharani land records portal to register sale deeds in their favour instead of mortgage deeds, registering 32 cases under the Telangana Money Lenders Act.
Superintendent of police Akhil Mahajan said 20 teams conducted simultaneous raids on Monday in Ichoda, Boath, Utnoor, Gudihathnoor, Adilabad, Bela, Narnoor and Jainad Mavala. Officers seized 32 Dharani sale deeds, 32 pre-Dharani sale deeds, blank cheques, promissory notes, stamp papers and fixed-deposit receipts valued at ₹1.55 crore.
“Our investigation found that some lenders mortgaged 2 to 5 acres of farmers’ land for loans of around ₹5 lakh at exorbitant interest rates, then used the Dharani portal to convert those mortgages into outright sale registrations,” said DSP L. Jeevan Reddy. “This strips poor farmers of their rights and amounts to outright land grabbing.”
In one case from Jainad, farmer Guskula Narsaiah alleged he mortgaged 1.35 acres to lender Boyar Ramesh in 2011 for a ₹3 lakh loan at 25 per cent annual interest. Despite repaying ₹4 lakh, he claims Ramesh refused to reassign the deed unless he paid the land’s current market value.
Mahajan vowed further action to safeguard small and marginal farmers from predatory lending practices.
