Prabhas land dispute case: Saaho star suffers setback in possession of property

Saaho actor Prabhas has suffered a setback with the Telangana High Court finding fault with a lower court's interim orders, which allowed him temporary possession of a property, which the government says it owns.

The revenue officials had demolished all illegal buildings that were constructed in Raidurgam in Ranga Reddy district. They had seized Prabhas' guest house built in 2,083-square yard land in Survey No. 5/3 at Raidurg Pan Maktha of Serlingampally and stuck a notice on the gate after they did not find anyone staying there.

But Prabhas had sought an order from the court declaring the officials' action 'unlawful and illegal,' claiming that they had tried to dispossess him without notifying him in advance. He had claimed that he had purchased the land from B Vaishnavi Reddy in October 2005 and B Shashank Reddy in April 2006 through two registered sale deeds. He had applied for the regularisation of the land twice.

Prabhas had stated that he had again applied for the regularisation of the land by paying the requisite fee of Rs 1.5 crore on January 19, 2015. He had also stated that he had been paying property tax and electricity bills regularly. The court had said that the land was part of the property once owned by the Paigah family and it had ordered that his plea should be heard before the special division bench.

After the title dispute was shifted, the trial court at Kukatpally granted an interim injunction in favour of Prabhas till April 3. Due to the lockdown, all interim orders were extended until the first week of June. The revenue authorities filed a petition to vacate the order. When the plea was not heard, the government approached the High Court.

The division bench observed that the order of the trial court was a mistake and possession of the property should not be with Prabhas. Hence, the bench directed the revenue authorities not to demolish the property. It directed the trial court to deal with the vacate application of the government and dispose of the case immediately on merits.