Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) on Sunday ordered another inquiry into the land grabbing allegations faced by former Health Minister Eatala Rajender and his family. This, even as two official inquiries are already underway. The inquiry was ordered after the Chief Minister received another complaint of land grabbing against Rajender from a person who alleged that his land was grabbed by his son.
Pitla Mahesh Mudiraj, a resident of Ravalkole village in Medchal district, lodged a complaint alleging that Rajender’s son Nitin Reddy had grabbed his land. According to the Chief Minister’s office, Mahesh had also appealed to the CM to look into the complaint. The CM instructed Chief Secretary (CS) Somesh Kumar to immediately conduct an inquiry into the complaint.
“The CM has ordered Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to initiate an inquiry based on the complaint he received. In this regard the CM ordered both the Anti Corruption Bureau and the Revenue Department to submit a comprehensive report to the government after the probe,” an official release from the CM’s office said.
This is the third inquiry ordered against Eatala Rajender, who was dropped from the cabinet by the Chief Minister earlier this month. KCR had ordered the first probe against Rajender on April 30 after some farmers from Medak district alleged that the former minister had grabbed their assigned lands for a poultry farm run by his family.
The allegation was that Jamuna Hatcheries Private Limited, owned by the Rajender’s kin, had encroached 66 acres of assigned land. At the time, while the Medak Collector’s report claimed that Rajender’s family had possessed the land illegally, the High Court dismissed the report and directed not to initiate any action against Rajender.
Soon in a dramatic development, on May 2 KCR sacked Eatala from the cabinet after stripping him of the Health and Family Welfare portfolio. He also ordered another probe by a committee comprising four IAS officials into alleged encroachment of endowment (temple) lands by the former minister and his followers in Medchal district. The lands in question belonged to the Sitaramaswamy temple at Devaryamjal village in Shameerpet mandal of Medchal-Malkajgiri district.
However, even that inquiry was questioned by the High Court while hearing a petition which asked the inquiry to be halted.
Eatala has denied all allegations of land grabbing and called the inquiry a witch-hunt, stating that he is being subjected to a premeditated character assassination.
Ever since KCR sacked Eatala, speculations are rife that the former minister is trying to become an alternative political point against KCR and his family either by forming a new party or joining a national party.