Court orders removal of President Patil’s husband’s name from land title

Amaravati (Maharashtra)/ NEW DELHI - An Amaravati Court on Wednesday ordered removal of President Pratibha Patil’s relatives’ names, including that of her husband Devisingh Shekhawat, from the ownership of a disputed piece of agricultural land at Chandrapur village in Maharashtra’s Amaravati District.

The order by Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Ashok Amankar has come on a petition by Kishore Bansod, who had alleged that the Shekhawat family had got its members’ names included in the land title fraudulently.

In his order, the SDO directed that the entry relating to the names of six people belonging to the Shekhawat family be deleted from the land records including President’s husband Devisingh Shekhawat, and five of his relatives.

In 2008, Bansod had alleged in a complaint that Shekhawat and others had usurped his farmland at Chandrapur village after tampering with the land records.

In his order the SDO also asked the official to carry out the resurveying of the land and to restore rightful owner.

Devi Singh had been accused of forging papers to grab 2.5 acres of land near the highway in Chandrapur in Amravati District two years ago.

It was also alleged that Shekhawat has taken help from local revenue officers.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, the Rashtrapati Bhavan declined to comment on the development terming it a personal matter of a family.

Rashtrapati Bhavan sources said it is a private matter involving Shekhawat and the complainant and that the President’s office is not connected, a private channel reported (ANI).