Info in public domain, no complaint: Andhra HC quashes cases against TDP leaders

The CID had filed a case against TDP organising secretary Kilaru Rajesh accusing him of heading the insider trade ring. It filed at least 20 cases accusing TDP leaders and real estate developers close to the TDP, accusing them of having prior information about the location of the new capital and indulging in land deals.

Rajesh had approached the High Court alleging it was a false case by YSRCP leaders. “The YSRCP government is making false claims and taking revenge against those who sold land,” he said.

“Information relating to the location of capital is very much in the public domain,” the court said while quashing the CID cases. It said several others besides the petitioners bought property in the area “probably on account of the information that is available to them in the public domain”.

It said the new government was formed on June 9, 2014 and “immediately after the swearing-in ceremony, the then Chief Minister declared publicly that the capital city is going to come within the Krishna district and the Guntur district by the side of the Krishna river”.

The court dismissed the government counsel’s charge that the then TDP government leaked information to a select few people and that it amounted to insider trading. Dismissing the cases, the court asked how the government could file cases “without any complaint from the land sellers”.