HYDERABAD: IAS officer Cherukuri Sridhar has sought protection as he deposed before the Crime Investigation Department (CID) as a witness in the alleged illegal land scam in Amaravati
Sridhar had written to Andhra Pradesh chief secretary Adityanath Das on June 27 seeking security for himself and his family. Sridhar reportedly named top politicians and officials who were at the helm of affairs in his letter to the CS for their alleged role in the scam. Sridhar, a 2009 batch officer, was joint collector of Guntur district when the land deals were struck in then government and later officiated as Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) commissioner.
Sridhar was questioned by the CID in March after an FIR was filed on March 12 in the alleged land scam case. The names of Mohan Rao and Ramaiah, who were experts in revenue laws and attached to the CRDA at that time, had also come up. While Mohan Rao has passed away, Ramaiah is working in Telangana state secretariat after his retirement.
Investigations by the CID have found that returnable plots were given to encroachers as against the revenue laws. Investigators said the revenue records of Thullur mandal were called for specifically and land details were taken confidentially in October 2014 by then government.
The CID is also likely to question then municipal administration minister P Narayana who oversaw the whole process of land pooling scheme and capital construction works. Then revenue officials were asked to submit one set of photo copies of all land records of Thullur mandal for the group of ministers to decide the location of the capital city.
The original records were supposed to be returned to the MRO office, Thullur, but they were retained in the collectorate itself, the CID alleged.
Though Sridhar had mentioned applicability of Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act, 1977, if any assigned land was alienated to others as it was an offence and that the land should be resumed to the government, it was not taken into consideration, he claimed. Then minister Naryana himself made an announcement to allot returnable plots for various categories of land owners, the CID said.
