ED begins probe into NTV Chowdary\'s Jubilee Hills land scam
Central agency summons incumbent president of Jubilee Hills Cooperative House Building Society on Nov 7
HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate has launched an investigation into alleged money-laundering in land transactions in the prime locality of Jubilee Hills in the city.
According to a notice issued by the ED, the copy of which is available with Deccan Chronicle, the investigating agency sought the appearance of incumbent president of Jubilee Hills Cooperative House Building Society Ltd on November 7 in connection with its investigation against the society’s former president and NTV founder T. Narendra Chowdary and others.
The ED asked the society to furnish a lot of information, in particular “any kind of property transactions related to Plot 853F measuring 1,519 sq yds in the layout approved by the society.” It also wanted a copy of the First Information Report filed by the committee with regard to the plot.
The plot was allotted to one Ch Sirisha, who had settled in United States several decades ago and never turned up to claim the land parcel. Meanwhile, the then president and secretary registered the plot to a person who identified herself as Sirisha and produced a voter ID card purported to have been issued by the Election Commision of India as identity proof.
The amount paid towards the stamp duty and registration fee was borne by the then president, it was alleged.
Inquiries revealed that a few days after registration, ‘Sirisha’ executed a gift deed in favour of Srihari Rao who in turn sold the plot to the family of former TD minister Prathipati Pulla Rao.
The police did not proceed with the inquiry, stating that the dispute was civil in nature. The present committee, however, approached the criminal courts at Nampally for re-opening of the case. The court has issued summons to the parties concerned to appear before it.
The ED also asked the Jubilee Hills Cooperative House Building Society Ltd to provide details of individuals who have been allotted plots, details of assets of the society along with mode and year of acquisition, details of properties allotted by the government and those taken back along with details of property allotted to other societies or companies by the society.