ED Hyderabad will probe Amaravati land ‘fraud’

HYDERABAD: Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chennai regional office, has asked its Hyderabad unit to probe alleged land scam in Amaravati, where 797 white ration card holders (below poverty line families) reportedly purchased around 761 acres of land worth Rs 220 crore in Andhra Pradesh’s legislative capital.
ED sleuths are examining the letter written by AP’s Crime Investigation Department (CID) and waiting for more information from the agency on the fraud.ED was yet to issue an ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report) based on the FIR issued by the AP police. CID had written to ED, Chennai, that money laundering took place in Amaravati's real estate deals.
CID had booked an FIR under sections of cheating, criminal conspiracy against two former TDP ministers Prattipati Pulla Rao and P Narayana. Based on the FIR, CID started investigating the case and found huge irregularities in land purchased between 2014 and 2015 in capital region area.
CID investigations found that hundreds of white ration card holders had purchased around 761 acres of land, worth Rs 220 crore, by spending huge money. CID submitted a list of people who had purchased huge tracts of land. Meanwhile, income-tax department, Vijayawada unit, sleuths have also started looking into land deals.