Amaravati land scam: AP CID books two former TDP ministers

By Newsmeter Network  Published on  22 Jan 2020 3:52 PM GMT
Amaravati land scam: AP CID books  two former TDP ministers

Hyderabad: Amaravati land scam took a new turn as the state police has booked a criminal case against former Ministers and TDP leaders Prattipati Pulla Rao and P Narayana on the allegations of forcibly 'buying' the land of a Dalit woman in Amaravati area. Crime Investigation Department booked the FIR under criminal conspiracy, cheating, criminal intimidation and sections of SC/ST atrocities prevention act.

Sources said that a local leader and former sarpanch of Venkatayapalem, Bellamkonda Narasimha Rao and the two former Ministers forcefully took the land. The Dalit woman Bujjamma alleged that Narasimha Rao gave her Rs 25 lakh and purchased returnable plots to be given by APCRDA which took her one acre of assigned land.

A CID official said," The local political leaders have spread rumours in the villages stating the assigned lands of Dalits would be forcibly taken away by the government without paying any compensation. In the case for Rs 25 lakh, they took away the land from her. Meanwhile, other Dalits in the village sold each acre of land for Rs 2 crore. Coming to know about this, Bujjamma questioned Narasimha Rao. He refused to pay the money and in turn went to the court and filed a civil suit. Following this, she came to CID and filed the complaint."

As the case is under investigation, the accused went to the court and got stay on the arrest. "They have filed for quashing of the case, but the court refused to quash but given a stay on the arrest, but the investigation can be continued."

CID sleuths who investigated the case found that several acres of assigned lands of Dalits were purchased by political leaders.

CID also found that white ration card holders have purchased huge chunks of land. It is being suspected that the benamis of politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists purchased these lands in Amaravati in 2014 and 2015.

Accused Bellamkonda Narasimha Rao said ,"I have been falsely implicated in the case as I was active in politics during TDP's regime. I purchased returnable plots from those who gave the assigned land to pooling. They demanded excess payments. Following this I approached the court. In the reply petition in the court they said that signatures are forged and they never sold land. The same seller went to police and said he took Rs 24 lakh cash. These are two contradictory claims by them. The two ex minister has nothing to do with the transactions. They never came to my home. The complaint alleged that the ministers were present when I gave them money,"

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