797 persons under Below Poverty Line own land worth Rs 220 crore in Amaravati: Report

Unravelling a massive land scam, the Andhra Pradesh Police has found out that some of the poorest people in Amaravati have land worth Rs 220 crore under their names.

While the Crime Investigation Department (CID) was investigating a complaint of insider trading in the capital by former ministers P Narayana and Pratipati Pulla Rao, they found that around 797 white ration card-holders with a monthly income of less than Rs 5,000, were to have bought about 761 acres of land worth Rs 220 crore during 2014 and 2015, News18 reported.

“These were white-ration cardholders, more than 50 per cent of them do not have PAN cards and most of them were cash transactions. All these show that there could have been money-laundering and tax evasion,” Additional Director General of Police (CID) PV Sunil Kumar told News18.

The CID believed that these could be benami properties because several buyers did not even possess a PAN card, and that's why they could have evaded the taxmen's lens. According the report by News18, almost 529 of the 797 landowners did not have PAN cards.

All the details of the buyers, land size and the mode of payment have been submitted to the Income Tax Department.

“These details were unearthed as part of our broader investigation on lands in Amaravati. There could be a massive scam. We’re also looking into other suspicious dealings such as benami land purchases and transactions on lands that should not be bought,” added Kumar.

According to multiple news reports, the CID has registered a case of cheating and criminal conspiracy.