Amaravati lands scam: CID unearths benami purchases linked to the family of ex-minister P Narayana

The CID pegged the Amaravati land scam to be worth ₹5,600 crore, which was used to buy about 1,400 acres of land assigned in the Amaravati capital region.

The original documents pertaining to the lands were reportedly taken from the farmers, and they were made to enter into sale agreements with the close relatives of Narayana.

The CID has already registered a case under Sections 166, 167, 217, and 120 (B) of the IPC in connection with the scam.

The case was also registered under relevant sections of the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Prohibition of Transfer (POT) Act.

The modus operandi

NSPIRA Management Services Private Limited was incorporated with Ponguru Sindhura and Puneeth Kothapa — the daughter and son-in-law, respectively, of P Narayana — as the directors.

The company channels payments for most of the requirements — like procurements, manpower, and infrastructure — for all the schools and colleges in the Narayana Group, founded by Narayana. It earns commissions on these transactions.

The office of this company is located in Madhapur in Hyderabad, and all the financial activities of the entities connected to the Narayana Group are operated from the same premises.

“Narayana Education Society, Narayana Learning Private Ltd, and Rama Narayana Trust, which were founded by Ponguru Narayana and are operated by his close family members since June 2014, channelled money into Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited,” said a senior CID official.

“KPV Anjani Kumar, the managing director of Ramakrishna Housing, transferred the money into the account of his employees, and payments were made to the farmers of the assigned lands in the Amaravati capital city area,” added the official.

“Transactions on over 150 acres have been identified, so far,” he said.

The alleged scam

The case pertains to the alleged illegal purchase of lands assigned to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Backward Classes (SCs, STs, and BCs) from villages in the Amaravati capital region.

These lands were assigned by the government to the poor. The purchase of assigned lands is illegal under the POT Act of 1977.

One of the first actions of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, when he became chief minister in 2019, was to appoint a Cabinet subcommittee to investigate the alleged Amaravati land scam.

After the subcommittee gave in its report, the CID filed multiple FIRs, with one of them naming TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and former minister Narayana, among others.

“The then minister Narayana, other ministers, and their benamis with an intention to grab the assigned lands in the capital city area from the SCs, STs, and BCs, put them under the apprehension that the assigned lands would be taken away by the government under land-pooling Scheme without giving any package and purchased the lands from them at cheaper prices,” said the senior CID official.

“Later, the ministers, who were in the government, pressured the then government officials to issue GOs in 2016, to gain benefits of the land-pooling scheme for the assigned lands in villages such as Mandadam, Velagapudi, Rayapudi, and Uddandarayunipalem,” he added.

Under the land-pooling scheme, those in possession of the assigned land were to get 1,300 square yards for development, or a little less than a fourth of the land.

These benefits finally went to the benamis of Narayana, instead of the originally-assigned landholders, the CID official said.

The senior CID official further said that in pursuance of their plan, the ministers engaged Kommareddy Brahmananda Reddy, KPV Anjani Kumar, Gummadi Suresh, Kolli Sivaram, and members of their own family to act as their benamis and purchased the assigned lands from the poor.

“Pressure was brought upon the Sub-Registrar officers in Mangalagiri and other places to allow registrations and GPAs on the lands in the prohibited list. The benamis and close political associates of Ponguru Narayana were identified as the major beneficiaries in this scam,” said another CID official.