Jagan Orders CBI Probe Into Amaravati Land Deals

The AP government on Monday called for a probe by the CBI into the alleged irregularities in land dealings in and around the Amaravati capital region during the TDP regime.

To this effect, an order was issued by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government on Monday.

“The government has decided to entrust CBI the cases of irregularities committed by persons officiating in the erstwhile government of Andhra Pradesh while designating the new capital for the state,” the order said.

“The in-principle consent of the Government of Andhra Pradesh under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946 has been conveyed,” the order said.

An official statement from the CM’s office said the government decided to entrust the case to the CBI owing to the high-profile nature of the accused involved and the need to investigate the interstate and international areas.

The Jagan Reddy government had constituted a 10-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) on February 21 to probe the alleged irregularities and insider trading in Amaravati during the Naidu regime.

The SIT, led by DIG of Intelligence Dr. Kolli Raghuram Reddy, was notified as a police station with state-wide jurisdiction with powers to summon anybody for questioning under relevant provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The SIT was asked to probe the alleged corruption, nepotism, irregularities, and pilferage of funds in the land pooling and other issues related to the Amaravati capital region.

But even before the SIT completed its probe, the state government decided to entrust the probe to the central agency.