Andhra Pradesh chief secretary K S Jawahar Reddy on Wednesday began the exercise to file a defamation suit against Jana Sena Party corporator Peethala Murthy Yadav for allegedly making land grabbing charges against him.
Jawahar Reddy held a meeting with legal experts to decide on how to take legal action against the Jana Sena leader, who repeatedly accused the Chief Secretary and his son of indulging in grabbing 2,000 acres of assigned lands in and around Visakhapatnam.
The legal experts suggested to him that he could file a defamation suit against Murthy Yadav, as was done by many VIPs who had faced similar allegations of corruption and land grabbing.
In fact, the chief minister sought to give clarification on Murthy’s allegations through a statement in the media, explaining the reason for his visit to Visakhapatnam on May 19 and 20.
He refuted the land grabbing charges, and made it clear that he or his family members were in no way connected to the issue of assigned lands.
The Chief Secretary demanded that Murthy withdraw his statement, and tender a public apology for making baseless charges against him.
However, Murthy reiterated his allegations on Sunday, following which the office of the Chief Secretary issued a release stating that shortly a legal notice would be served on the JSP corporator of GVMC, followed by legal action.
Meanwhile, TDP leader from Visakhapatnam Palla Srinivasa Rao also made similar allegations against Jawahar Reddy saying his family members had encroached upon lands near Bhogapuram international airport.
He alleged that free hold documents were given to those who had signed agreements with brokers and registration was done within 10 days of issuing the government order.
“The NDA will order an inquiry into these illegal land purchases soon after coming to power in the state,” Rao said.
