An 81-year-old man visited the Prime Minister's official residence in New Delhi on Wednesday, seeking a direct audience after claiming they had been schoolmates decades ago. During the meeting, he submitted a written complaint urging the central government to order a CBI probe into allegations that powerful individuals in his home district have illegally grabbed a substantial portion of his family's agricultural and residential land.
According to the complaint filed by the man, who hails from Gujarat's Kheda district, his family has been battling a land dispute for over two decades. He alleges that a group of influential locals, allegedly backed by political connections, forcibly occupied roughly six acres of his family's ancestral property starting in the early 2000s. Despite multiple petitions filed with local revenue authorities and police stations, he claims no effective action has been taken and that the matter has been deliberately stalled through bureaucratic delays.
Sources close to the Prime Minister's office confirmed that the 81-year-old was received and allowed to submit his detailed petition. The meeting lasted approximately 30 minutes. His legal team, accompanying him, has stated that they intend to follow up with formal representations to both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the CBI headquarters in New Delhi.
Landgrabbing in Gujarat has emerged as a recurring grievance, particularly in rural and semi-urban areas where rising commercial and industrial demand for agricultural land has intensified disputes. Rights activists and local lawyers note that elderly petitioners often travel to the capital when they perceive their state-level remedies to have been exhausted without result. Several similar cases involving senior citizens have drawn public attention in recent years, prompting questions about the adequacy of district-level land dispute resolution mechanisms.
The Gujarat state government's land record digitisation programme, launched in phases since 2020, has reportedly resolved thousands of long-pending encroachment complaints. However, critics argue that cases involving politically connected individuals frequently escape timely adjudication. Legal experts said that unless the CBI takes cognisance, the man's remaining options include approaching the Gujarat High Court or filing a writ petition before the Supreme Court on grounds of non-action by state authorities.
