Encroachment of Wakf land in Mangaluru: BJP leader’s multi-crore complex raises eyebrows

coastaldigest.com news network
December 26, 2017

Amidst uproar over encroachments of the Wakf properties across India, a huge building has illegally come up on a Wakf land worth several crores of rupees in the heart of the city of Mangaluru in coastal Karnataka. Shockingly, the local administration too has helped a politician’s family to construct the illegal building on the land belonging to the historic Kutchi Memon Masjid in the city.

In fact, the illegal construction work on the Wakf land started around three years ago and now a six-story commercial-cum-residential complex has almost reached its completion after illegally crossing several legal hurdles. Reliable sources said that a leader of Bhartiya Janata Party had managed to mislead the officials of Mangaluru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) and Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) and obtain licence for the constriction with the help of an illegal ‘permission letter’ from a staff of the mosque.

Occupancy tenants

The 2.5 acres land belonging to the mosque and located at Golikatta Bazar in Bundar area of Mangaluru city had been declared as Wakf property in 1968 through a gazette notification. For the past few years, one Keshava Mijar and his family had been living in 69 cents of land of the same 2.5 acres as occupancy tenants (moola geni basis). Around three years ago, Keshava Mijar’s five children including Ravishankar Mijar, vice-president of Dakshina Kannada district unit of BJP, jointly started constructing a complex after demolition the small buildings on the land.

Completely illegal

Any development work or construction of building on a Wakf land without obtaining a no objection certificate (NOC) directly from the Wakf board will be considered illegal. However, a staff of the mosque, apparently violating his jurisdiction, had reportedly given a written permission using the official letterhead of the mosque to the tenants (Mijar siblings) to construct the complex. The tenants had reportedly paid him Rs 12.5 lakh for this favour. 

Even though the permission letter given by the staff of the mosque doesn’t authorise the tenants to construct the building, they went ahead with their multi-crore project. In December 2013, the MUDA provided single site approval to the tenants in violation of the rules or without verifying the documents of the land. In November 2014, the tenants received licence for the construction work from the MCC too. 

MCC serves notices

Even thought the illegal construction process started three years ago the state Wakf board recently woke up following a complaint and directed the local administration to stop the illegal construction work. After realising its blunder, the MCC served notices to Ravishankar Mijar and his siblings.

Rs 100 rent for 69 cents land!

However, the BJP leader and his siblings have claimed that the land legally belongs to them. “We, the five siblings, have obtained single site approval from the MUDA. Hence, we have all the rights to construct the building in this 69 cents land. Besides, we are still paying Rs 100 rent every month to the mosque without fail. There is no meaning in arguing that this is Wakf land,” says Ravishankar Mijar.

Legal action awaited

According to MCC Commissioner Mohammed Nazir, the civic body had granted licence for the construction of the complex based on the single site approval issued by the MUDA in 2013 to Ravishankar Mijar and siblings. “However, now we have received information that the property belongs to the Wakf. Hence we will seek the opinion from the legal advisors before taking further action,” he said.

Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sasikanth Senthil said that he had already directed the assistant commissioner to look into the issue. “If there are sufficient documents to prove that it’s a Wakf land then the building will be considered illegal and further action will be taken,” he said. 

Dakshina Kannada Wakf Advisory Committee chief Kanachur Monu holds MCC and MUDA officials responsible for illegal construction. “A tenant cannot become the owner of the Wakf land just by bribing some people. Even if he creates some documents, they are considered illegal documents. The tenants have illegally constructed a building on land worth Rs 30 crore. It is the responsibility of the authorities concerned to clear the encroachment at the earliest and reclaim the Wakf land,” he said.

Comments

Once Mr Anwar Manipadi submiting wakf property list in a TV Debate  howcome he missed this property 

 

May be he was with Pakistani wakf delegates at that time, these days our leadrs are good in attaending birthdays and shaadi and meeting  Paki delegates  and to be honest we dont have to Bribe people get letter  to show honesty  and Naionalist.

 

Abdullah
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

Waqf board is sleeping ....

Mbeary
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

Name the mosque staff 

Lets name and shame him

he has eaten the money of the yatheem

Naren Kotian
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

This might be the case of encroachment of BJP land by mosque. I know mijar family and they are very honest and nationalist people. They don’t want the property of Pakistani supporters. It was BJP which exposed the encroachment of Wakf property by Congress minister. But Sidramullah’s Khan grace govt is fooling muzzis.

Reader
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

This is not just the case of Mangalore. Everywhere in India we can see same situation. Unfortunately this scam is growing across the country. 

Pokar Beary
 - 
Wednesday, 27 Dec 2017

Congress government will not take action because it knows that many of Congress bigwigs are doing the same. Paying Rs 10 monthly rent to the mosques and running giant commercial complexes and earning crores. 

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November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israel has launched a new act of aggression on a residential neighborhood in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, killing and injuring about two dozen civilians.

The Israeli regime's military said in a statement that its forces carried out a so-called precise strike in a residential apartment in Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday.

The aggression targeted residential areas, killing at least five people and injuring more than 28 people, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. 

Hezbollah announced the martyrdom of senior Hezbollah commander Haytham Ali Tabatabai and four resistance fighters.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun condemned the airstrike, calling it a clear demonstration of Tel Aviv’s disregard for repeated international calls to halt violations on Lebanese soil.

“Israel refuses to implement international resolutions and all efforts aimed at ending the escalation and restoring stability,” Aoun said, urging the international community to take action to prevent further aggression.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement also condemned the attack, holding the international community accountable. 

“The international community bears responsibility and continues to provide cover for these attacks as long as it does not restrain the occupiers,” said Ali Abu Shahin, a member of the group’s political bureau.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that the Israeli army carried out a strike “in the heart of Beirut."

Netanyahu reportedly approved the operation following recommendations from top Israeli security officials.

Two senior US officials commented on the Israeli strike.

The first official said that Israel did not notify Americans in advance about the attack. "We were informed immediately after the strike was carried out."

The second senior official said that the "US knew for several days that Israel was planning to escalate its strikes in Lebanon, but did not know in advance the timing, location, or target of the strike."

Speaking from the site of the Israeli strike, Lebanese MP Ali Ammar condemned the attack as part of a broader campaign of aggression that has targeted "all of Lebanon since the Washington-sponsored ceasefire."

He stated that "any attack on Lebanon is a violation of red lines; this aggression is part and parcel of the entity that targets Lebanon's dignity, sovereignty, and security of citizens."

Ammar went on to say the resistance is responding with "utmost wisdom, patience, and will confront the enemy at the appropriate time."

"Unfortunately, the enemy is emboldened to commit its aggression by voices within Lebanon that have turned themselves into tools that support its aggression," he added.

The Israeli attack on the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital is the latest blatant violation of the ceasefire Israel signed with Hezbollah in November 2024, which was intended to end hostilities that had escalated into full-scale war.

An Israeli strike on the Ain al-Hilweh camp near Sidon in southern Lebanon late Tuesday killed at least 14 people. It wounded several others, including young students, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The military claimed the attack targeted “a Hamas training compound” used to plan and carry out attacks against the regime -- a claim that has frequently been made without evidence.

Hamas rejected the allegations as “a blatant lie aimed at justifying the massacre,” stating it had “no military installations in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon” and that the targeted site was merely “an open sports field.”

According to Lebanese authorities, Israeli attacks have killed approximately 4,000 people and displaced more than 1.2 million residents across the country since October 2023.

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November 21,2025

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Local authorities say the Israeli military has expanded the so-called “yellow line” truce demarcation in Gaza City and repositioned its forces deeper into the territory in violation of a ceasefire agreement that came into force on October 10, besieging dozens of Palestinian families.

Gaza’s Government Media Office announced in a statement on Thursday that Israeli forces widened the boundary by shifting the markers, and advanced roughly 300 meters (984 feet) into the neighborhoods of Ash-Shaaf, An-Nazzaz and Baghdad Street.

The move pushed further into civilian areas, trapping families who were unable to flee as tanks rolled forward, it added.

“The fate of many of these families remains unknown amidst the shelling that targeted the area,” the office said, adding that the expansion of the yellow line shows a “blatant disregard” for the ceasefire deal.

On Friday, sources said the Israeli military carried out continued air and artillery strikes inside the so-called “yellow line” east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

According to the reports, Israeli warplanes and tanks targeted areas within the zone. One Palestinian was reported killed and several others wounded in the strikes, the sources said.

The fresh aggression came only a day after 25 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City and Khan Younis on Wednesday.

The media office reported that Israel has consistently violated the truce deal since its implementation last month, with near-daily attacks by air, artillery and direct shootings.

The office said over 400 violations have been documented. These breaches have resulted in the deaths of more than 300 Palestinians and left hundreds injured.

The Government Media Office in Gaza urged the guarantors of the ceasefire — the US, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey — to take swift action to halt the ongoing violations and facilitate the delivery of food, shelter materials, medical aid, and infrastructure equipment.

The so-called “yellow line,” set out in the agreement between Israel and Hamas resistance movement, refers to a non-physical partition where the Israeli military repositioned itself when the truce deal took effect.

It has allowed Israel, which routinely fires at Palestinians who approach the line, to retain control over more than half of the Gaza Strip.

International bodies, including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tselem, and other rights groups, have concluded that the Israeli war on Gaza amounts to genocide.

In the attacks in Gaza since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 69,546 people and injured 170,833 others, leveling large swaths of the territory and displacing almost all of the population. 

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