VIJAYAWADA: The CBI on Thursday conducted searches on 25 premises of former TDP MLA Yerapatineni Srinivasa Rao in Guntur district and Hyderabad of neighbouring Telangana, in a case related to alleged illegal mining of limestone in Palnadu region of Guntur district.
The CBI, during its searches, reportedly recovered several incriminating documents, mobile phones, material objects and cash. The CBI is investigating the alleged illegal limestone mining by Srinivasa Rao following the directions of the High Court. The case was earlier investigated by the AP Crime Investigation Department (CID). The CBI, on August 26 this year, took over the 17 cases registered by the CID and filed a first investigation report against 17 accused.
The accused had allegedly conducted illegal mining, quarrying and transportation of limestone in Konanki village of Piduguralla mandal, Kesanupalli and Nadikudi Villages of Dachepalli mandal in Guntur district for several years, thereby causing huge loss of revenue to the government and other licensed lease holders. It was alleged that illegal mining of several lakh of tones of limestone was conducted by the accused from 2014 to 2018, plundering natural resources.
The “illegal” mining took place during the previous TDP regime. When a PIL was filed by TGV Krishna Reddy, the government informed the High Court that it would hand over the cases to the CBI.