VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (APCID) on Monday submitted a chargesheet in the alleged multi-crore Amaravati assigned lands scam in the special ACB court in Vijayawada.
The sleuths have named TDP supremo and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu as accused number 1 and former municipal administration and urban development minister P Narayana as accused number 2 in the case.
The ACB court is also examining the CID’s request to consider realtor Kommareddy Brahmananda Reddy as a prosecution witness (approver).
Following a complaint lodged by Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, the probe agency registered two FIRs in 2020 under IPC Sections 420, 409, 506, 166, 167, 217 and 109 read with 34, 35, 36, 37 and 120 (B), Sections 3(1)(g) & 3(2) (Va) of Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Section 7 of AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfer) Act and Section 13(2) read with 13(1) (c)&(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Naidu, Narayana, Thullur former tahsildar Anne Sudheer Babu and managing director of Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited KPV Anjani Kumar alias Bobby.
In the chargesheet, the APCID officials informed the court that around 1,100 acres of assigned lands, valued around Rs 4,400 crore, were purchased in violation of rules and misuse of powers. They pointed out that most of the lands belonged to the SCs and STs.
The CID has also learnt that Naidu and Narayana deliberately violated the binding legal advice given by the then Advocate General.
Naidu, Narayana obtained pecuniary gains: CID
During the investigation, probe agency found that Naidu, Narayana and others obtained pecuniary gains by forcibly grabbing the lands from farmers in the capital region villages, claiming that the lands will be taken away by the government under the Land Pooling Scheme without proper package being paid. In the process, ministers in the previous government had allegedly pressurised officials to issue the government order 41 to gain benefits of the land pooling scheme for the assigned lands in villages such as Mandadam, Velagapudi, Rayapudi, Uddandarayunipalem among others.
“In pursuance of their plan, they roped in Kommareddy Brahmananda Reddy, a realtor, KPV Anjani Kumar, Gummadi Suresh, Kolli Sivaram, family members of the ministers who acted as benamis and purchased the assigned lands,” sources in the CID said.
The investigation also revealed that ministers put a lot of pressure on Mangalagiri sub-registrar and other officials concerned to allow registrations and general power of attorney (GPA) on the lands in the prohibited list.
The CID’s investigation also found evidence of flow of funds of about Rs 16.5 crore from the educational societies and companies operated by the family members of Narayana to Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited and other real estate middlemen, who in turn paid the farmers of assigned lands and got illegal sale agreements prepared under the names of Narayana’s benamis.
Narayana was accused of illegally acquiring nearly 162 acres of assigned lands. Additionally, CID officials found that records of claims for benefits under the land pooling scheme to APCRDA were tampered.
