Confirming the suspicions of police officers’ link to land deals made by slain gangster Nayeemuddin alias Nayeem, some witnesses examined by investigators have revealed the names of a few police officers.
Statements of some listed witnesses recorded by the authorities, which were accessed by The Hindu , have brought on record names of a few police officers. One of them, (LW-36) Mamidi Narsimha Swamy, told the police that his wife Padma’s brother B. Raja Gopal working as a sub-inspector in Khammam district had got one acre of land registered in Swamy’s name in 2008 at Bhongir sub-registrar office. According to Swamy, Mr. Gopal has been working in the police department since 2004. Another person Gandikota Mallikarjun (LW-31) stated that his uncle (father’s younger brother) G. Venkataiah, presently Inspector of Kalvakurthy in Mahbubnagar got one acre of land registered in his (Mallikarjun) name in 2008 at Bhongir. On behalf of the CI, some persons approached him while he was waiting at Bhongir bus-stand on August 18, 2008. They took him to local registration office and got the land registered in his name. A private foreman Yousuf Khan (LW-29) admitted to investigators that his son-in-law Mastan Ali working as Sangareddy Traffic Inspector got one acre of land in Bommaipalli village of Bhongir registered in his (Khan) name.
Along with names of police officers, names of some politicians also cropped up in the statements of the witnesses. Among them was that of Chinthala Venkateshwar Reddy. A builder B. Madhukar Reddy, in his statement, disclosed that Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy was his friend and he got 10 acres of land in Bommaipalli village registered in his (Madhukar Reddy) name the same year.
“Mr. Venkateshwar Reddy claimed to have bought the land and told me that he would sell it when the rates go up,” the investigators said quoting him. Two others, P. Nagaiah (LW-37) and G. Ravinder Reddy (LW-34), mentioned that TRS MLC Nethi Vidyasagar got lands registered in their names at Bhongir registration office. Interestingly, one of Nayeem’s agents, on whose name lands were registered, had reportedly fled to Australia as the police speeded up the investigation.
