Gang cheats poor families of Rs 3 crore with fake Bhoodan land plot promises in Khammam

Police in Khammam uncovered a scam in which a gang allegedly collected nearly Rs 3 crore from poor families by promising house plots on Bhoodan land. Twenty-one persons have been booked in 19 cases, with nine arrests made so far.

Khammam: Additional DCP (Law and Order) Prasada Rao said on Saturday that a gang claiming to be members of the UCCRL (ML) OPDR Bhoodan Committee collected Rs.3 crore from the poor promising to allot house sites at Velugumatla.

Illegal allocations with fake documents came to light in a detailed investigation by the Bhoodan Yagna Board Learned Standing Council. Criminal cases have already been registered against 21 people in 19 cases and nine people have been arrested and legal action is underway, he said.

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The gang collected Rs.50, 000 to Rs.1 lakh from each family by promising house plots in Bhoodan lands. Fifteen cases had been registered against the members of the gang in the past. Cases were registered at the Khammam Khanapur Haveli Police Station, Sathupalli and Konijerla police stations, the DCP said, adding that the investigation in the case has been ongoing and appealed to the affected families to file a complaint if they were cheated by the gang. The money looted from the families would be recovered from the accused and would be returned to them.

Meanwhile, CPI (M) district secretary Nunna Nageswara Rao demanded the State government to allot plots in Bhoodan land and build houses for all the homeless people whose houses were demolished by the government. He asked Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy to keep his promise that all the families would be given house sites and Rs.5 lakh under the Indiramma housing scheme by March 15. The district authorities were exerting pressure on the families to vacate Ambedkar Bhavan and TTDC function hall where they were given shelter, he alleged.

The families were told that they would be given house sites in their own villages and that they should go to their villages. The CPI (M) and all the Left parties would stand with the families until justice was served to them, he added.