Misappropriation of Funds: HMDA probe closing in on KTR, Arvind Kumar

Hyderabad: The state government is inching closer to fixing former MAUD minister KT Rama Rao and former secretary to Municipal Administration Arvind Kumar in the alleged irregularities in the sale of HMDA lands, ORR toll gate auction and formula E race.

The MAUD department, according to sources, was in the process of preparing a detailed report on the projects in question which were taken up during the previous BRS government in which allegations regarding the misuse of funds had taken place and ‘quid pro quo’ deals had reportedly taken place.

Interestingly, this is going to become a major political narrative during the Lok Sabha polls. The BRS feels that if the government makes any hasty move like filing of cases and initiating action, it will help them gain sympathy among the voters. But the government does not seem to be in such a tearing hurry to act though the BJP may accuse it of sitting over controversial issues like HMDA.

The government seems to be of the view that it should keep all relevant data ready before initiating any action. The officials have been asked to gather every bit of information and prepare a report on the execution of the projects, including the construction of skyways, flyovers, development of urban parks and other developmental projects.

The government suspects that funds worth crores of rupees meant for the infrastructure projects were misused by the previous government.

It may be recalled that the investigation into the misuse of Rs 50 crore allocation for formula E race and a probe into the HMDA lands’ sales and the permissions given to illegal layouts during the BRS rule was on.

Following the arrest of Siva Balakrishna, the ACB had collected a lot of information from the alleged accused in the HMDA land scam. It is also suspected that huge investments were made by some top and highly influential BRS leaders on benami names. The probe agency will soon be submitting a report to the Chief Minister. The CM would then take a legal opinion on whether to initiate legal action first or launch criminal proceedings against those who are reportedly involved in it.