An Indian Army jawan posted on the India-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir has released a video on social media accusing the family of a village revenue officer (VRO) of grabbing his ancestral land in Telangana’s Siddipet district. He urged viewers to share the video so that it reaches Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, as the higher officials have not intervened due to the VRO’s influence. After the video went viral, BRS leader and Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao tagged the district collector, M Manu Chowdary, urging swift action.
Army jawan B Rama Swamy released a selfie video alleging that some people encroached on his land in his village while he was serving on the country’s borders. He accused the family of VRO Ramesh of encroaching on his 1.16 acres of agricultural land at Chowdarpally in Akberpet-Bhumpally mandal during the previous government’s tenure. The incident is reminiscent of Army jawan-turned long-distance runner Paan Singh Tomar, who ultimately became a Baghi (rebel) to save his agricultural plot from land grabbers.
In this case, the jawan said his parents and family members were being harassed by the encroacher, who is the VRO’s brother. They removed the names of the jawan’s family members from land records and even changed the names under land ownership. For the past six years, the family approached the mandal revenue officer and the revenue divisional officer, but failed to get justice due to the influence of the VRO. After the video went viral and people demanded action against the errant officials, the Siddipet MLA and BRS leader T Harish Rao tagged the district collector on his ‘X’ handle, stating, “Investigate the matter and take necessary action. It’s appalling that a soldier safeguarding our borders faced such an incident.”