Raghunandan seeks ED, I-T probe into agriculture minister's land deals

HYDERABAD: BJP Dubbak MLA Raghunandan Rao announced on Monday that he would approach the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as well as the income-tax department to see an investigation into questionable land deals and illegal occupation of government land, including a portion of the Krishna riverbed, allegedly involving agriculture minister Singireddy Niranjan Reddy.

At a press conference, Raghunandan Rao told the media that the agriculture minister only highlighted one part of the property acquired in one survey number in response to his charges that there were multiple illegalities in how he obtained 160 acres for a farm and a farmhouse.

"The minister stated that a man from a tribal community who Niranjan Reddy claimed was his 'adopted son' figures in several deals, including the use of CSR funds. The more we investigate, the more murky details are emerging. The minister has changed his phone number, which he had previously used to make calls to China to a particular person, who then called someone in the United States,” the BJP MLA said.

“There are doubts that large sums of money were laundered through this channel. There are also questions about whether the man the minister claimed to be his adopted son ever paid income tax and from where he got the money to buy the land, which he later transferred to the minister's own children," Raghunandan Rao said.

Instead of responding to specific charges, he added, the minister was making statements that skirted the important issues made about land deals in which the minister is allegedly involved. "Since the competent authorities to investigate these issues are the ED and the I-T department, I am approaching them today with complaints to probe these deals," Raghunandan Rao said.