CID files charge sheet against Chandrababu Naidu in Amaravati assigned lands case

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh): The Andhra Pradesh CID on Monday filed a charge sheet against TDP President and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, former minister P. Narayana, and others in Rs 4,400 crore Amaravati capital city assigned lands scam case.

Anne Sudheer Babu, former tahsildar of Thulluru mandal, and K.P.V. Anjani Kumar (Bobby), Managing Director of Ramakrishna Housing Pvt Ltd, are the others named in the charge sheet.

The case was registered in 2020 at the CID police station in Mangalagiri under the Indian Penal Code's (IPC) Sections 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust), 506 (criminal intimidation), 166 & 167 (public servant disobeying law), 217 (public servant framing incorrect record), 109 (abetment) along with various sections related to criminal conspiracy, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfer) Act, and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

According to the CID, the estimated value of 1,100 acres of land involved is Rs 4,400 crore. It stated that the then Chief Minister Naidu, then Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister P. Narayana, other ministers and their 'benamis' (proxies) with an intention to grab the assigned lands in the capital city area from the SCs, STs and BCs, put them under the apprehension that the assigned lands will be taken away by the government under the Land Pooling Scheme without giving any package and purchased the lands from them at lower prices.

Later, the ministers pressured then-government officials to issue a GO to gain benefits from the land pooling scheme for the assigned lands. The accused allegedly engaged Kommareddy Brahmananda Reddy, Anjani Kumar, Gummadi Suresh, and Kolli Sivaram, who acted as 'benamis' of the then ministers and purchased the assigned lands of poor people.

Pressure was brought upon the Sub-Registrar officers in Mangalagiri, etc. to allow registrations and GPAs on the lands in the prohibited list The investigation elicited clear evidence of the 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 Pvt Limited and other real estate middlemen, who, in turn, paid the farmers of assigned lands and got illegal sale agreements prepared in the names of the 'benamis' of Narayana.

"He illegally acquired 162 acres of assigned lands for himself. Other politically affiliated associates of N. Chandrababu Naidu and P. Narayana, too, acquired assigned lands of hundreds of acres in the capital city area," the CID said.

The agency claimed that senior IAS officers deposed before the Magistrate under Section 164 CrPC, that Naidu and Narayana got the GO 41 issued, overriding the opinions of the then Advocate General, the High Court, the Law Secretary, and the objections raised by the IAS officers.

This GOM No.41 was intended to give legitimacy to the transactions on the assigned lands, though such transactions were illegal as per the A.P. Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfer) Act, 1977, the CID said.

Brahmananda Reddy, a realtor who dealt with the agreements on the assigned lands approached the ACB court, praying to consider him a "prosecution witness" (approver). The ACB court is examining his petition.