Telangana govt orders CID probe into land scam

Hyderabad: The Telangana government today ordered an inquiry by the state police's CID into the alleged illegal transfer of 796 acres of government land to private individuals in Medchal district. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who held a review meeting with ministers and senior officials on the issue, directed that tough action be taken against those responsible for the alleged land transfer, a release from his office said. The Cyberabad police have arrested a sub-registrar and two directors of different real estate firms for allegedly transferring government land to private companies and causing losses to the state exchequer.

R Srinivasa Rao, sub-registrar of Kukatpally, and PS Parthasarathi and PVS Sharma, directors of the two firms, were arrested yesterday for alleged "illegal" transfer of government land in Miyapur village on the city outskirts, a Cyberabad police release said. A police complaint said, Trinity Infra Ventures Ltd represented by its authorised signatory Parthasarathi (director) registered four documents in favour of Suvishal Power Gen Ltd, represented by its signatory Sharma (director) by transferring the government lands which were registered at Sub Registrar's Office (SRO), Kukatpally.

"During the course of the investigation, it was found that the four documents were registered at SRO, Kukatpally, in violation of Registration Act-1908 provisions and thereby causing loss of Rs 587.11 crore to the state," it said. According to police, Parthasarathi and others prepared a general power of attorney (GPA) from one Ameerunnisha Begum and seven others on January 15, 2016 to show that the land belonged to these persons. Later Parthasarathi executed a deed in favour of Suvishal Power Gen Ltd on January 21, 2016, it said. "Thus Parthasarathi and Sharma in collusion with Srinivasa Rao, got registered government lands and caused major revenue loss to the government," the release added.

According to the CMO release, the Chief Minister ordered cancellation of 'anywhere registration' policy (allowing registration of a property anywhere), it said. Favouring "cleansing" of the registration department, he asked officials to prepare a strategy for the purpose, it said. Rao claimed that no government land has gone into the hands of some private individuals. Noting that registration of government lands in the name of anybody else is not allowed as per law, he said some persons got government lands registered as per convenience for obtaining bank loans with the help of some government officials. However, the illegal registration had been cancelled when it came to the notice of government, the release quoted Rao as saying.