VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh State Crime Investigation Department (APCID) has filed two petitions before the high court for reopening the Amaravati land scam case, according to sources. This came after APCID claimed fresh evidence in the case.
One Ponguru Krishnapriya, sister-in-law of former municipal administration minister P Narayana, has voluntarily sent an audiovisual statement giving specific details on the manner in which Narayana, an accused in the case, illegally purchased the assigned lands from farmers of 29 capital region villages.
In a complaint, Mangalagiri MLA Alla Rama Krishna Reddy had alleged that TDP leaders, including ministers, had bought assigned lands at low prices through fraudulent ways. Subsequently, CID officials registered an FIR on March 12, 2021, and named Narayana as the second accused in the alleged scam, while TDP supremo and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was mentioned as the prime accused.
So far, the CID has arrested five people in the case registered under various Sections of the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and AP Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfer) Act.
Investigation revealed that as Narayana had control over granting permissions for town layouts and buildings, he, along with his family and others, conspired to grab lands and use the bank accounts of the director of a Hyderabad-based private housing company to transfer the money.
The CID sleuths added that the accused through his employees, relatives and middlemen intimidated peasants from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Backward Classes (BCs) by stating that the land assigned to them was owned by the government and would be reassumed without any compensation.
Later, Narayana approached the High Court to stall the investigation into the case and also filed a quash petition. The court had reserved its orders in the matter for October 16 (Monday).
“The criminal petitions 1762 and 1764 of 2021 mentioned in the cause list of the High Court will come up for orders on Monday before Justice V Krupasagar. We will request the court to consider the new evidence and start fresh arguments on the quash petition,” said a senior official on the condition of anonymity.
ALL ABOUT THE CASE
In a complaint, Mangalagiri MLA Alla Rama Krishna Reddy had alleged that TDP leaders, including ministers, had bought assigned lands at low prices through fraudulent ways. Subsequently, Andhra Pradesh State Crime Investigation Department officials registered an FIR on March 12, 2021, and named Narayana as the second accused in the alleged scam, while TDP supremo and former state chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was mentioned as the prime accused.