HYDERABAD: CBI Director Praveen Sood is likely to chair a meeting of the agency’s joint directors of the southern states in Hyderabad on Saturday, where he is expected to review the recent developments regarding alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme. Sources said the meeting will be held at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy between 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm, where teams are likely to be formed to take up the investigation.
CBI sources said Sood reached Hyderabad on Friday evening and then left for Srisailam, where he will have a darshan at the Mallikarjuna Swamy Temple on Saturday morning before returning to the city. They added that the CBI’s Hyderabad Zonal Unit has collected the Justice PC Ghose Commission, NDSA, and state Vigilance and Enforcement reports along with Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau FIRs, remand reports and other documents related to cases where engineers have been booked for possessing disproportionate assets.
It may be recalled that after Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s announcement in the Assembly in the early hours of Monday, the state government on Tuesday gave its consent to the CBI and formally asked the agency to investigate the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project “in view of the NDSA report, the findings of the Commission of Inquiry, the Assembly’s decision on the construction of the Medigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages of the Kaleshwaram project, and the sinking of piers resulting in huge financial loss to the state exchequer”. Agency sources expect the director to discuss the future course of action and permission-related matters from the Ministry of Home Affairs to move forward after the state government’s request.
The over 600-page Justice PC Ghose Commission report on Kaleshwaram, which was discussed in the Assembly, held former chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directly responsible for the execution of the project.
The Commission also faulted the then irrigation minister T Harish Rao, the then finance minister Eatala Rajender and others, including IAS officers and engineers.
After KCR and Harish approached the Telangana High Court, the court granted them interim relief, restraining the state government from taking any coercive action against them based on the findings of the report until the next hearing. Agency sources said the director is also likely to discuss the court’s direction with the legal team and how to proceed in filing an FIR over the irregularities.
Meanwhile, the CBI director’s Hyderabad visit has triggered a heated debate in political circles, especially within the BRS, over the implications of his visit and the action plan that may emerge in connection with the Kaleshwaram irregularities.