Chandrababu Naidu named main accused in Rs 4,400 crore Amaravati land scam

The Andhra Pradesh Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in a chargesheet named former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and former minister P Narayana, among others, as the main accused in the Rs 4,400 crore Amaravati land scam.

The Telugu Desam Party chief, Narayana, A Sudheer Babu and K P V Anjani Kumar are accused of grabbing assigned 1,100 acres of land worth Rs 4,400 crore.

“In conspiracy with Naidu, Narayana, other ministers and their benamis, 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 land pooling scheme without giving any package and purchased the lands from them at lower prices,” an official release said.

The probe agency said in the chargesheet that government officials were pressured by the accused to issue the government order (GO MS No 41) to incorporate the assigned lands in Mandadam, Velagapudi, Rayapudi, Uddandarayunipalem and other villages into the capital city land pooling scheme. 

“Despite the clear and binding legal advice given by the then Advocate General, the accused deliberately and in a coordinated manner violated the legal mandate,” the release said.

It also said that funds worth Rs 16.5 crore from educational societies and companies linked to Narayana’s family members were transferred to Ramakrishna Housing Pvt Ltd and other real estate middlemen, who in turn paid the farmers of those assigned lands to get alleged illegal sale deals prepared in the name of Narayana’s benamis.

The probe agency further said that Narayana acquired up to 162 acres of assigned land for himself and his associates and Chandrababu Naidu’s associates had also acquired assigned lands running into hundreds of acres in the capital city area.

Moreover, it underscored that 1,336 new persons claimed benefits from the pooling scheme for 946 acres land under the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), which was actually under the possession of different persons as per revenue records of 2014.

The state probe agency said that another realtor, Brahmananda Reddy, who dealt with the agreements on assigned land, approached the ACB Court to consider him a prosecution witness (approver), which the court is considering.