Sri Lanka, July 5 -- DANG, July 5: Sixty-two-year-old Muljita Rokaya of Ghorahi Sub-Metropolitan City-7 never imagined that sending her daughter to the capital for higher education would cost her not just a hefty tuition fee, but her only piece of land-and peace of mind.

When her daughter's Master's-level tuition fee of Rs 100,000 became too much to manage, Muljita hoped for help. Her only asset was a plot of 10 kattha and 8 dhur of land back in her village-her family's sole source of income. That's when Tika Budha, son-in-law of prominent Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mahara, entered the picture-claiming kinship and offering a solution.

Claiming to be her "nephew" from an old familial tie, Tika approached Muljita with a proposal: lease...