Jubilee Hills plot scam: NTV founder Chowdary made prime accused

Hyderabad: The Jubilee Hills police on Saturday registered a case against T Narendra Chowdary, former Jubilee Hills Cooperative Housing Society president and founder of Telugu news channel NTV, and several others in connection with the plot scam in the upmarket area.

Deccan Chronicle carried “1500 sq yd plot for Rs 2 lakh” in these columns on April 23 revealing the registration of a plot in Jubilee Hills worth at least Rs 50 cr in the name of a person who allegedly impersonated a Non Resident Indian. The present secretary of the society B Ravindranath approached the High Court seeking direction to the police to register a case against Mr Chowdary and former secretary T Hanumantha Rao.

According to the FIR, Mr Chowdary and eight others including sub registrar of Banjara Hills zone got a plot registered in the name of B Sirisha for a sale consideration of Rs 1.91 lakh and subsequently created a gift deed in the name of B Srihari. The complainant, Ravindranath, alleged that the accused created forged and fabricated documents to ensure registration of the plot 30 years after it was allotted to one Sirisha who is now settled in United States. “The registration was done by then office bearers in collusion with the sub registrar without any representation from the NRI and verifying the identity of the person,” he alleged.

According to Jubilee Hills inspector S Rajasekhar Reddy a case was registered based on the contents of the complaint with crime number 237/2021 under sections 120-B, 406, 408, 409, 419, 420, 467, 468, 471, 477A of Indian Penal Code and investigation was taken up.

Other accused include A Suresh Reddy, former treasurer of the society, employees of the society Ch Krishnamurthy, D Srinivas Reddy, Md Javeeduddin, B Sirisha and P Srihari.

Sources said apart from the criminal aspect involved and likely action against the accused, the property registered in the name of Sirisha which was subsequently transferred to Srihari will also land in trouble with police registering FIR.

As per rules, the Stamps and Registration department, based on the FIR, will make an entry of fraudulent property against the said plot making it difficult for the owner to resell or mortgage it. The registration can also be cancelled if the real NRI established the impersonation and seeks for cancellation of the sale deed.

Meanwhile, both Sirisha and Srihari have to account for at least Rs 6.5 cr to the Income Tax department. Irrespective of the sale consideration claimed by the buyer and seller, the IT department will take the market value fixed by the government as deemed sale consideration and levy the tax accordingly.