The Special Court for anti-corruption bureau cases has issued summons to former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, his former ministerial colleagues and senior bureaucrats to appear in the court on December 15 in connection with the allotment of land to IMG Bharata.
Besides Naidu, former revenue minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, former sports minister P Ramulu, the then revenue secretary D C Rosaiah and the then youth advancement, tourism and culture secretary Chandana Khan have been directed to appear in the special court on December 15.
The ACB Court took up the case on the directions of the AP High Court. Earlier, two Congress leaders and former ministers had separately filed public interest litigations in the High Court alleging that the then Telugu Desam government had extended illegal favours to IMG Bharata, a sports promotion company, in violation of rules.
The government had allotted 400 acres of land to IMG Bharata near Gachi Bowli for establishing a world-class sports facility. The caretaker government had registered 400 acres of land at a paltry price of Rs 50,000 per acre after the dissolution of the State Assembly in 2003. The government had allotted another 450 acres for the company at Shamshabad but the registration did not take place.
The Congress, which was in the opposition then, had stoutly opposed the alienation of land to IMG Bharata for a song. After coming to power, the Congress regime constituted a Group of Ministers to review all decisions taken after January 1, 2003 by the previous Telugu Desam government with regard to mega projects, infrastructure projects and allotment of lands above five acres.
The Group of Ministers, reviewing the land allotment to IMG Bharata, expressed shock and surprise that the Gachi Bowli land, which commanded a market price of Rs one crore per acre, was actually allotted to the company for a pittance (Rs 50,000 per acre).
The GoM favoured three options - cancellation of land allotment after examining legal issues, asking the IMG Bharata to pay the market value prevailing on the day of execution of sale deed or taking up the project as a joint venture on 50-50 basis between the state government and the company.
The Congress Legislature Party alleged that Billy Rao and his brother Prabhakar Rao, a consultant for Chandrababu Naidu's Kuppam project with Israeli technology, promoted the IMG Bharata. The company had a paid up capital of Rs one lakh when it got the land.
The CLP had sought a CBI inquiry into this land scam.