BRS alleges Rs 10,000 crore land scam in Kancha Gachibowli forest land, demands for Central Probe

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Friday alleged a criminal conspiracy and a ₹10,000 crore financial scam involving the Revanth Reddy-led government. He called for an immediate investigation by central agencies and warned of a potential collapse of ICICI Bank due to its alleged involvement in the matter.

Hyderabad: Close on the heels of violating numerous environmental norms and resorting to undervaluation of the Kancha Gachibowli forest lands, the Revanth Reddy government is now alleged to have committed even graver crimes.

The BRS working president KT Rama Rao on Friday exposed a criminal conspiracy and a Rs 10,000 crore financial fraud committed by the Revanth Reddy government. He demanded for an immediate probe by the Central agencies and even cautioned about an impending collapse of ICICI Bank for its alleged complicity.

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“In collusion with a BJP MP, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy masterminded one of the biggest land scams in independent India, a Rs 10,000 crore fraud involving prime forest land adjacent to the University of Hyderabad (UoH). They used these forest lands for financial manipulation, then caused environmental destruction through political-bureaucratic collusion,” he alleged.

Disclosing the details at Telangana Bhavan here, Rama Rao said that the Kancha Gachibowli land is a forest land under the 1996 Supreme Court guidelines, which stipulates that any land with forest-like characteristics are to be treated as forest land, regardless of title or ownership records. He pointed out that the land in question met this criterion, having more than 0.4% canopy coverage.

Despite this, the Telangana government issued a GO in June 2024 transferring the land to Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) at Rs 75 crore per acre – pegging the total value at Rs 30,000 crore. However, no sale deed was executed, no mutation carried out, and no ownership was officially transferred to TGIIC.

At this point, a BJP MP stepped in and helped the Chief Minister by introducing him to a mercantile bank – Trust Investment Advisors Private Limited which is said to have introduced the concept of using private trustees to bypass Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) norms for Rs 169 crore as brokerage charges. This company involved a private bank and a debenture trustee company to execute the fraud.

In a well-planned conspiracy, TGIIC went ahead and mortgaged this very land as collateral to raise a Rs 10,000 crore loan from ICICI Bank through Beacon Trusteeship Ltd., a SEBI-registered debenture trustee. According to the BRS working president, this alone constituted a criminal fraud, and he held both the Industries Secretary and the TGIIC responsible for enabling the deception and obtaining loan without a title deed and mutation.

“No due diligence on ownership appears to have been carried out, raising serious questions about the bank’s lending practices and the legality of the transaction,” he said.

The controversy deepened with the discovery that the valuation of the land was quietly revised downwards twice within five months. A new report prepared in November 2024 by the government approved valuers, valued the land at Rs 52 crore per acre. Subsequently, the land was pegged at Rs 41.6 crore in what is being termed as reliable value in the open market. This downward spiral conveniently shrunk the total land value from Rs 30,000 crore to Rs 16,640 crore for 400 acres.

“Why did the value drop by Rs 23 crore per acre in five months? Was it to favour someone? Who benefits from this devaluation?” Rama Rao asked, suggesting that the final goal was to facilitate the land’s sale to Congress cronies at throwaway prices using a friendly banker and a broker.

“The same BJP MP is now being rewarded by the Revanth Reddy government. This nexus between Congress and BJP is shameful,” he said, promising to reveal the MP’s identity at appropriate time.

The former Minister slammed the ICICI Bank for issuing the massive loan without even verifying ownership of the land and based solely on the word of a broker – Trust Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd. He reminded that the land is legally still not in TGIIC’s name as per the Stamps and Registrations department. “If a common man applies for a loan, banks ask for 100 documents. But here, ICICI gave Rs 10,000 crore without knowing who owns the land. This is a scam, not a loan,” he said, warning that the bank’s credibility is now at risk of total collapse.

Though the government initially claimed that the loan was obtained to release Rythu Bharosa funds and other welfare schemes, only Rs 5,000 crore is reported to have been spent on welfare schemes, while the rest allegedly diverted to pay commissions and clear bills of private contractors.

Calling for the Centre’s intervention, Rama Rao announced that the BRS will formally lodge complaints with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SEBI, SFIO, Central Vigilance Commission, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, and the CBI, demanding a full-fledged investigation. He also challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to prove his sincerity by ordering an immediate probe and cancelling the illegally raised bonds.

“If PM Modi doesn’t respond, it will be clear that BJP is shielding this Congress-led robbery. They will be partners in crime,” he declared. He warned that this was only the beginning of a larger blueprint and if not stopped now, the Revanth Reddy government is preparing a Rs 60,000 crore land loot using the same model. He raised serious doubts about the transparency in selecting Beacon Trusteeship and Trust Investment Advisors for sale of HMDA lands, and demanded that both firms be blacklisted and banned from doing business in Telangana.

ICICI Bank clarifies

The ICICI Bank issued a clarification in respect of the Kancha Gachibowli Forest land issue and said it had not provided any mortgage loan to TSIIC. The bank statement said
“We would like to clarify that we have not provided any mortgage loan to Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC), and TSIIC has not mortgaged any land with us in relation to this bond issuance. We acted only as an account bank to TSIIC for receipt of bond issuance money and interest servicing.”