SANGAREDDY: Days after the arrest of Medak Additional Collector G Nagesh in the Rs 1.12-crore bribery case, sources say that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials handling the case may also investigate retired Medak Collector K Dharmareddy.On September 9, the ACB sleuths had apprehended the Additional Collector, Narsapur RDO B Aruna Reddy, Tahsildar Abdul Sattar, Survey and Land Records junior assistant Mohammad Waseem Ahmed, and Nagesh’s benami K Jeevan Goud. Nagesh had demanded a bribe of Rs 1.12 crore from the complainant K Linga Murthy in return for issuing a No Objection Certificate (NOC) at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per acre for 112 acres at Chippalturthi village in Narsapur mandal.
Sources said that former Medak Collector K Dharmareddy had written a letter to the Stamps and Registration Department on July 31 — on the day of his retirement — asking the officials to move the impugned 112.21 acres of land from the “Prohibition Area” to the “Legal Area”. The move appeared suspicious to the ACB because an official stepping into retirement does not traditionally handle important financial dealings. In fact, a senior in the Collectorate was surprised to learn that the Collector himself had written the letter which was directly addressed to the Registration Department. The ACB is still ascertaining the role of the retired Collector in the case.
Tahsildar sent on leave?
During interrogation, the ACB officials received key information from the Additional Collector. It is learnt that the accused officials dealt with the transactions carefully, in a premeditated manner. They had allegedly sent Tahsildar Malathy on leave after she refused to participate in facilitating the NOC. The responsibility fell on Chilipched Tahsildar Abdul Sattar, who was appointed as the in-charge. Normally, the officials-in-charge only clear routine files and not important ones. Sattar, however, sent a file to the RDO, requesting NOC for the said piece of land. Later, the file was returned without delay to the Collectorate by Narsapur RDO.
Benami dealings
There are also allegations that Additional Collector G Nagesh had transferred lands to two more benamis in Chippalturthi and other villages of Toopran apart from Jeevan Goud