VISAKHAPATNAM: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the land scams in Vizag is understood to have found out the involvement of some former IAS officers in the irregularities.
“The babus who held various key posts in the past had issued No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for several stretches of land in violation of the rules. After ascertaining the facts, criminal cases will be registered against the officials including some retired revenue employees who were involved in tampering of land records for gains,” sources close to SIT probe told Express.
Of the more than 300 complaints related to tampering of records, the SIT has completed an investigation of around 100 cases and a preliminary report, along with the list of accused, has already been submitted to the government, sources said. It is learnt that some individuals had earned crores with the support of real estate traders and the Special Investigation Team officials are now making arrangements to file cases.
Meanwhile, following the direction of the SIT, Visakhapatnam Rural MRO D Bhaskar Reddy has taken possession of a 2.16-acre site with an estimated market value of nearly `12 crore which was under encroachment, on Friday.
Soon, a complaint will be launched against the accused Pothina Venkata Rao.
Going into the details, Venkata Rao had occupied 2.16 acres in the survey numbers of 363/3, 325/2 on the Law College Road in the PM Palem limits, opposite to the District Agriculture Office.
Having occupied the stretch log ago, a person sold the land as residential plots in 1982. Later, the stretch was occupied by Venkata Rao who handed over it to a nursery owner V Pratap Raju on a lease at `10,000 per year. Based on a complaint, the Special Investigation Team officials conducted a field survey and confirmed that the 2.16 acres belong to the government. The MRO, in the presence of police, pulled down the illegal structure on the land.
Colour code
The district revenue authorities are now assigning colour codes to the revenue records which have been cleared by the SIT. Yellow colour tags are being assigned to the files to identify them easily. The colour codes have been decided on the basis of revenue divisions.