BANGALORE: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy seems to be caught up in a shady land deal in Bangalore. He has registered against his name land of 4 acres and 26 guntas in Survey No 47 at Kodigehalli village in Krishnarajapuram hobli, which was allotted to a Schedule Caste family in 1983.
Though there is no bar on purchasing such land, there is a stipulated period of 15 years only after which it can be sold. But this piece of land was first bought by one HT Narayana Reddy in 1991, well ahead of the stipulated time.
Then, in a possible case of a benami transaction, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister paid an advance on Rs 13.2 lakh to one Vijayalakshmi in three instalments (Rs 4 lakh cheque no. 482530 Rs 3,60,000 cheque no. 482530 Rs 1,60,000 cheque no. 482531 Rs 4 lakh cheque no. 482530 drawn on Canara Bank, Lavelle Road, Bangalore) on September 25, 1995 towards the purchase of the land though she herself had not bought the land.
She then got the land registered in her name in November 1995, three years ahead of the stipulated sale period. Reddy then waited a full five years before he got the land registered in his name. Due to the previous transactions, the land itself is illegal in the first instance and hence, in 2007, the special deputy commissioner ordered that the land be transferred back to the government.
According to the rules, anyone buying land allotted to a Schedule Caste before the stipulated 15 years is liable for imprisonment of six months under Section 7 of Karnataka Village Offices Abolition Act, 1961.
Interestingly, Kiran Kumar Reddy registered the land in four instalments (one acre on October 5, 2000, document No. 6532/200001, 34 guntas on the same day, No. 6533/0001, one acre on October 6, 2000, No. 6740/200001, one acre on October 9, No. 6760).
The board on the land just says "Survey No. 47 48 belongs to B Anand and others" but doesn't name the "others". Though Express made repeated attempts to contact Reddy, he was not available for comment. And though his personal assistant Sridhar promised to inform the CM, the latter has not reverted.