VIJAYAWADA: Officials of the Andhra Pradesh wing of Crime Investigation Department (CID) carried out searches at the residences of former minister and TDP leader P Narayana, and his daughters in Hyderabad on Friday. According to sources, the searches were related to a case pertaining to the alleged Amaravati assigned lands scam.
CID officials reportedly searched the properties of Puneeth Kothapa, Narayana’s son-in-law, Sindhura and Sharani, his daughters and Indira, a relative, at Madhapur, Kukatpally, Kondapur, and Gachibowli. They reportedly seized incriminating documents pertaining to transactions for 148 acres of assigned lands in the Amaravati capital region.
It has been alleged that former ministers and others playing key roles in the government put farmers under the apprehension that the assigned lands would be taken away by the government under the land-pooling scheme without giving them a package. They further allegedly purchased lands in the capital city from SCs, STs, and BCs at cheap rates.
It may be recalled that similar searches were conducted on the premises of Hyderabad-based NSPIRA Management Services Private Limited last month. The company is managed by Puneeth. At that time, too, they had reportedly secured key information on the flow of funds for the alleged illegal and benami purchases of assigned lands made in Amaravati in 2014 and 2015.
Multiple cases were registered against TDP chief N Nara Chandrababu Naidu, P Narayana and others based on a cabinet sub-committee’s report on the alleged insider trading in Amaravati region, and Mangalagiri MLA Alla Rama Krishna Reddy’s complaint alleging illegal purchase of lands assigned to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes (SCs, STs, and BCs) from villages in the capital region.
According to sources, APCID officials found the former minister’s involvement in formulating the master plan of Amaravati in the capacity of vice-chairman of APCRDA (AP Capital Region Development Area) and purchasing 65.50 acres of agricultural land through benami transactions, located in and around the capital area in June, July, and August of 2015 at a cost of `4.23 crore under the name of Avula Muni Shankar (cousin of Narayana’s wife, P Ramadevi), Potturi Prameela, an employee at NSPIRA, R Sambasiva Rao, Ramadevi’s brother, and Varun Kumar Kothapa, Puneeth’s brother.
“Funds were transferred and bulk deposits were made into the accounts of Prameela, Shankar, Sambasiva Rao just before the purchase of lands in their names as benamidars of Narayana,” sources said.
The CID officials reportedly found that Narayana had changed the alignment of Inner Ring Road (IRR).
“While designing the alignment of the Inner Ring Road, Narayana personally directed the consultant to arbitrarily shift the alignment of the IRR, two to three kilometres away from the 100-feet road from Tadigadapa to Enikepadu, closer to seven of the campuses of Narayana educational institutions. He also made changes to the IRR for the benefit of Lingamaneni Group and Heritage Foods” sources added.
CID officials reportedly found that Narayana, his family members and relatives as benamis purchased a total of 148 acres of assigned lands. They channelised Rs 17.5 crore into the bank accounts of Ramakrishna Housing Private Ltd.