Hyderabad, September 24: Basing on the recommendations made by the Solicitor General and the expert committee constituted by the state government on the controversial Emaar Properties issue, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V Hanumanth Rao on Thursday asserted that it was a fit case to order a CBI probe into the scandal which involved more than Rs 10,000 crore.
Only the CBI probe would expose the ‘unseen forces’ responsible for the largescale irregularities in the APIIC-Emaar Properties issue, he noted.
Addressing a press conference here, Hanumanth Rao said that Solicitor General Gopala Subrahmanyam had recommended cancellation of partnership agreement between the APIIC and Emaar, stoppage of registrations by Emaar-MGF, getting injunction order to stop sale of properties and further works by Emaar-MGF, initiating criminal action against the erring persons etc. Besides, the expert committee had also recommended that the APIIC should cancel the project since there were a number of violations committed by the Emaar Properties, initiate criminal action against senior official BP Acharya and those responsible for making losses to the APIIC etc.
Besides seeking suspension of Acharya, he wanted the government to take action against the then Hyderabad district collector Navin Mittal. He exuded confidence that chief minister K Rosaiah would definitely recommend the Centre to order for a CBI probe into the scandal.
The Rajya Sabha member claimed that he had come to know about a ‘secret’, saying that one MGF representative Sravan Gupta had disclosed about the role of a ‘king-maker, big man and an advisor to the government’ (indirectly referring to late YSR’s close aide and MP KVP Ramachandra Rao) in the issue. Rao, however, refused to disclose the name of the ‘unseen force’. Former APIIC managing director BP Acharya should expose that ‘big force’ responsible for the scam, he added.
Replying to a query, Rao said that he would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the chief minister with a request for a CBI inquiry into the scam.
He also wanted the government to take steps to give back 73 acres of land (given to Emaar) acquired from the poor farmers.
–Agencies