5 things you need to know about the Visakhapatnam Land Scam
- Visakhapatnam Land Scam is about revenue records related to 270.54 acres tampered
- The land belonging to government was not owned by any individual
- No arrests have been made in this regard
- Though there is demand for CBI probe, CM Naidu has handed over the case to SIT
FollowAndhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu has refused to hand over the Visakhapatnam Land Scam case to CBI and had said that SIT would conduct a fair probe and bring the culprit to book!
This scam in discussion in the Andhra Pradesh is about revenue records related to 270.54 acres belonging to Government and Forest Department having been found to have tampered.
CM Naidu even refused to reveal the names of people involved in the scam. However, he said that strict action would be taken against those found guilty. He also said that records were tampered with, but no transaction in this regard has been taken place so far.
1) The SIT team
The SIT team probing the Janthakal Mining Scam is led by former CBI DIG Vineet Brijlal; other members of SIT are TTD Deputy Executive Officer (Services) Lanka Vijaya Sarathi, Visakhapatnam Joint Collector G Srijana and Revenue Divisional Officer Vijaya Sarathi.
2) Cases booked
Police have booked cases against 29 people in this regard; cases had been registered in the Arilova, Bheemli and Pendurthi police stations. In all, 168 complaints were received from 26 mandals. The highest number of complaints being 44 was received from Visakhapatnam (Rural), followed by Gajuwaka with 22 complaints, Bheemunipatnam 15, Visakhapatnam (urban) 13, Pendurthi 14, Parawada 10, and Anakapalle had 10 complaints, reported Indian Express.
3) Land not sold
Though it was found that documents of the government land were tampered, after verifying Encumbrance Certificates, it was made sure that lands under scanner were not registered in any individual’s name.
4) Online initiative unearths the scam
The scam was unearthed when Collector Pravin Kumar with his team was digitising the land records of various villages to upload them in Webland. The officials decided to verify the land records with old ones when they suspected a land scam in three villages. It is only after that the team came to know that the records have been tampered with.
5) No arrests made
Though many people have been booked, no arrests have been made in this regard. Three cases have been filed, but no individual has been arrested so far. Moreover, not even a single acre of land was owned by the l and grabbers.
