Warangal: The Principal Judicial First Class Magistrate Court of Jayashankar Bhupalpally district on Monday issued notices to former chief minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, former minister T. Harish Rao and eight others, including officials and representatives of construction companies involved in the construction of the Medigadda barrage, to attend before court on September 5.
A petition was filed by one Nagevelli Raja Lingamurthy on September 7, 2023, against them, including officials Rajat Kumar and Smita Sabharwal, alleging that they were responsible for the sinking of a portion of the Medigadda barrage constructed under Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS) and for misusing crores of public money.
The petitioner informed the court that soon after the sinking of the barrage, he had lodged written complaints with the DGP, the Bhupalpally SP and the station house officer. Because of political pressure exerted by BRS leaders, they did not focus on the case, he alleged.
By misusing powers, Chandrashekar Rao and others conspired to jack up the construction cost of the project. They did not submit the technical and mechanical details of the project and several important documents to officials of the dam safety authority. They did not even take up soil testing before starting construction works, he said.
When the construction works were underway, instead of handing over the responsibility of supervision and maintenance of the project to the concerned engineers, Chandrashekar Rao and Harish Rao handed over the responsibilities to Genco engineers, he alleged.
He urged the court to file cases against the former chief minister and others under IPC Section 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 386 (extortion), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 409 apart from ordering a comprehensive inquiry into the damage caused to the Medigadda barrage.
