Hyderabad: Hyderabad police investigating a land grab scam involving hundreds of millions of rupees have arrested Andhra Pradesh legislator J.C. Deepak Reddy and his associate and lawyer Shailendra Saxena.
The two, facing serious charges of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy to grab the land of others, appeared in a Hyderabad court on Wednesday.
The magistrate remanded them to 14 days judicial custody and sent them to Chanchalguda Central Jail.
Deepak Reddy is a Telugu Desam member of the AP Legislative Council and son-in-law of TDP MP from Anantapur J.C. Diwakar Reddy.
In his affidavit filed before the election authorities in 2012, Deepak Reddy claimed he owned properties worth Rs64.55 billion (Dh3.68 billion). The disputed lands were listed as part of his assets.
The valuation made him the richest politician in both the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
Police allege Deepak Reddy and Saxena would file false litigations over the ownership of prime lands in the city by forging documents in fictitious names and staking ownership claims.
Assistant Commissioner of police, Central Crime Station, Hyderabad G. Jogaiah said a case was booked against the duo on the complaint of a member of Musa cooperative housing society.
The member alleged the two were trying to usurp 2.8 hectares of land owned by the society in the Mehdipatnam area.
A similar case was also booked against them in connection with attempt to grab 8,000 square metres of land in Banjara Hills.
In the case of the Mehdipatnam land the accused had created a fictitious identity in the name of Iqbal Khasim Kahn and prepared documents showing him as the owner of the land — and a petition was filed in the High Court on his behalf.
In turn another document was forged to show Deepak Reddy as the buyer of the land from Khan.
The conspiracy unravelled when on Srinivas, another associate of Deepak Reddy, fell out with him and spilt the beans about the racket.
This case opened a Pandora’s box and many other societies in the same area have also lodged complaints against Deepak Reddy to the police.
In another case, an attempt was made to take over 14,000 square metres of land in Banjara Hills. The land was purchased from its owner Ayub Kamal by MVS Choudhary and Brothers in 1960. As the land was lying vacant Shailesh Saxena filed a claim in 2008 that the land belonged to Akbar Mohiuddin and Khawja Moinuddin Ansari. He also prepared another set of documents claiming that Deepak Reddy had purchased the land from Ansari brothers but Choudhary and Brothers grabbed it. However, the Choudhary Brothers established their ownership with genuine documents in the court.
While police had registered cases against the two a long time ago, action was only taken now after another massive land scam involving revenue department officials rocked Telangana government.
