VIJAYAWADA: Senior IAS officer and former commissioner for Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Cherukuri Sridhar has reportedly revealed crucial information pertaining to alleged insider trading in Amaravati. A few days back, the IAS officer deposed before the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the alleged irregularities in the land deals in the Amaravati capital area during the TDP regime.
According to sources in the CID, Sridhar told them that the previous government had collected the revenue records of Thullur and other mandals in 2014, even before the land pooling for the capital was started in 2015 and issued GO 41 to acquire assigned lands from the farmers. He reportedly told the CID officials that it was a violation of the AP Assigned Land Act 1977.
The land records were allegedly not returned to the Thullur Mandal Revenue Office but were kept at the Guntur collectorate, Sridhar reportedly told the CID officials. He also told the CID officials that he informed the then minister P Narayana on the issues related to the transfer of assigned lands.
After the CRDA was formed, a group of ministers’ meeting was held with the then CRDA commissioner N Srikanth, Guntur district Collector Kantilal Dande and other officials, who briefed them about the lands they inspected in Thullur before the capital announcement. “Sridhar told the CID that he had raised objections as transferring assigned lands was against the Act. However, minister Narayana and the government did not pay heed to his caution,” a senior official said.