Andhra Pradesh land scam: 767 poorest people are owners of ₹220 crores land in Amravati

The Andhra Police have exposed a huge land scam in Amaravati where the land pieces worth crores have been listed down on the name of the poorest people in the state.

According to an investigation by CID, 797 white ration card-holders, each with a monthly income of less than ₹ 5,000, bought lands worth ₹220 crore. They apparently have bought 761 acres in the Amaravati region in 2014 and 2015.

A report in The Times of India stated that CID has registered a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy in the matter.

The investigation found that many of the land buyers did not even have PAN cards and paid no income tax, reported TOI.

AP police have handed over all details of the purchasers to the I-T officials

Most of the 797 white ration card holders are residents of Guntur, out of these, 529 don't even have PAN cards issued on their names.

Following which, the AP CID has asked the Income Tax department (I-T) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) for detailed investigation with tax evasion and money laundering data involved in the purchase of lands.

The names of former Minister of Telugudesam party (TDP) Pattipati Pulla Rao and P Narayana have been booked by CID in the major land scam.

The letter has been sent to the state’s income tax chief commissioner on Wednesday, which stated, “…the investigating officer examined the registrations of suspicious land done during 2014 and 2015 in Amaravati capital area of AP. It came to light that huge cash transactions took place in purchasing the lands,” according to the TOI.

After the CID investigation, it was found that the forgery of transactions took place in Thulluru Mandal where the core capital city of Amaravati was planned. The temporary secretariat, high court buildings and beauroctates area have been decided, reported TOI.

When Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the then ruling party TDP had announced that Amaravati would be the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. For this plan, around 33,000 acres of land have been given in the region next to Vijayawada.

In 2019, the YSRCP government won the state elections and decided to have three separate capitals. Amaravati would be the capital with the state assembly and all government offices would be located at Visakhapatnam.