N Chandrababu Naidu, Nara Lokesh linked to cos owning Amaravati land, says petitioner

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department (CID) has named some companies and individuals having links with former CM N Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh as accused in one of the cases pertaining to alleged land scam in Amaravati.
The CID in its FIR named Lalitha Super-Specialities Hospitals Private Limited, directors of Vertex Homes, Gayatri Realtors, Good Life Estates and Kilaru Rajesh, a close aide of Lokesh, alleging that they purchased land even before the government made an official announcement about Amaravati as capital as they had prior knowledge about the location of the capital.
Earlier, the accused filed a petition in the high court arguing that the petitioner, Salivendra Suresh, a resident of Velagapudi in Guntur district, had no locus standi to file a complaint with the CID against them. After receiving a report from Suresh, the CID conducted a preliminary enquiry.
Filing a counter-affidavit in the court, Suresh alleged: “Lalitha Hospitals is the highest beneficiary of Arogyasri health scheme and Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) from 2014 to 2019. CMRF was released purely based on the discretion of then CM Naidu. Lalitha Hospitals purchased land in Velagapudi and Tadikonda.” Suresh further alleged that all the accused have good acquaintance with the officials in the previous government.
During the course of the investigation, searches were conducted on the office premises in Vijayawada and also at the residential premises of Chekuri Tejaswi in Hyderabad. “The data retrieved indicated that Tejaswi was getting inputs from sources associated with the decision-making about the location of the capital city and he was purchasing lands accordingly,” the CID said.
Suresh said Kilaru Rajesh, who worked in TDP office, has close proximity with Lokesh. He had also worked in Heritage Finlease, which is owned by Naidu’s family. “Only a selective few working in the proximity of Naidu were privy to the exact details of the capital city,” he alleged in the counter-affidavit.
The enquiry officer submitted a report stating that Marella Nagireddy, who is a landowner in Kaza village, sold his land to representatives of Good Life Estates at a cheaper rate and later alleged that he was cheated. The CID booked an FIR under IPC sections of cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy.
Suresh handed over the documents to the court in which the details of the property purchased by various accused were given. During the investigation, two other landowners — Modugula Gopala Reddy and S Srinivasa Rao — gave statements that they sold away their lands to the accused who suppressed the fact that the core capital city area would be declared in their area and the government would announce a land pooling scheme. “They sustained wrongful loss due to fraudulent act of the accused,” the CID said.
In its plea filed before the high court, counsel for Good Life Estates said: “The allegations in the FIR are baseless. Suresh is not an aggrieved party and cannot lodge a report with police (CID). Mere suspicion cannot form the basis of registration of a crime. There was never an element of defraud to attract the provisions of section 420 of IPC and no criminal breach of trust,” the counsel said.