NELLORE: Even as TD and YSRC leaders have locked horns over illegal mining of gravel in Venkatachalam mandal forest lands, a major fraud to convert Rs 60 crore worth government land, abutting National Highway No 16, as patta land came to light on Friday.
The digital land records in the state government’s portal-Web Land-have been tampered with by hacking the digital key of Venkatachalam tahsildar I.S. Prasad.
The digital signature of a deputy tahsildar Kishore Reddy Ramana, working at Gudluru in Prakasam district, was used to access Web Land. For biometric authentication, the Aadhar number belonging to one Golla Gurubrahmam of Nadigadda village in Vinukonda mandal of Guntur district was used.
The fraudsters transferred 14.14 acres of government land at Kakutur to three members of the same family and 1.60 acres to another in one go.
Authorities at chief commissioner of land administration (CCLA) traced the details of transfers after Nellore collector K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu and joint collector MN Harendhira Prasad took the issue to their notice. As per the instructions of higher officials of revenue and CCLA, Venkatachalam tahsildar, Prasad lodged a complaint at Venkatachalam police station on August 3. Police booked cases against Kishore Reddy Ramana and Gurubhramam.
Chakradhar Babu told this correspondent that he had deputed Harendhira Prasad, who is a qualified computer science engineer, to conduct a thorough investigation into the sordid episode.
He said they have rectified the tampered records and also verified land records of all mandals to check for any other similar offences.
The joint collector said that the digital key of the tahsildar was mapped while underlining the need to check with the officials creating digital keys and managing the website. He said the digital key of the tahsildar has since been replaced.
DSP of Nellore Rural Y. Harinath Reddy said that they are investigating the case from all angles in association with Cyber Crime sleuths.
He said that they are in the process of identifying the fraud beneficiaries. All those involved in the scam would be sternly dealt with, he said.
Meanwhile, Sarvepalli legislator Kakani Govardhan Reddy suspected the role of TD leaders behind the transfer of government land as patta land. He said it is a practice for some TD leaders to tamper with land records to suit their vested interests.
