Ex-minister, 8 IAS officers in Andhra named in multi-crore land scam

Former revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao of the opposition YSR Congress, eight senior IAS officers and other district-level officials from the stamps and registration department have been named in the multi-crore land scam in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district by the special investigation team (SIT). The team, constituted by the government of Andhra Pradesh in June last year to inquire into complaints of tampering of records that lead to the alienation of 1,226 acres of prime government lands in 40 mandals in and around Visakhapatnam city, submitted a detailed report to the state cabinet.

Dharmana Prasada Rao, who served as revenue minister during the period when the scam was reported, is accused of obtaining no objection certificates (NOCs) by manipulating a section of official machinery for alienating three acres of land assigned to an ex-serviceman in favour of Virgin Rocks Private Limited, a granite mining and export company located in Madhuravada area for which he is a promoter. Prasada Rao, the regional coordinator of the YSR Congress, alleged he was being targeted by the ruling Telegu Desam Party (TDP) in an apparent bid to browbeat leaders belonging to opposition parties. “We purchased the land at Rs 5.3 crore only after the seller obtained a NOC from the then district collector and the sale deed for the same was executed by the revenue and stamps and registration departments jointly. Where is the scope for tampering of records?” he shared with a leading TV channel of India. Those accused in the scam as per the SIT report also include three IAS officers who served as Visakhapatnam’s district collector over a period of time, three other officers during their stint as joint collector, a district revenue officer, who was later promoted as an IAS officer and is currently serving as a district collector in the Rayalaseema region. Revenue minister KE Krishnamurthy announced the formation of the SIT after his cabinet colleague Chintakayala Ayyanna Patrudu, holding the roads and buildings portfolio, blew the whistle over the land scam.