Maytas sold land worth Rs 1,000 cr

By M H Ahssan

The Rajus were not only buying land, they were also selling it too. Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties sold land worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore at market rates, last year in Ranga Reddy district. This fact came to the notice of the stamps and registration department, which is looking into their land dealings at the behest of the CID.

Maytas group of companies sold nearly 1,90,500 sq yards of land at Gopannapally village near Gachibowli, which would have fetched about Rs 213 crore as per government rates in 2008. Officials say as per the market value, it might have been more than Rs 600 crore even by conservative estimates. Similarly, another Rs 200 crore worth of properties - as per government rates - were sold in Medchal limits where the Maytas has a huge number of properties. Their other properties are on city outskirts.

As per preliminary investigation of the registration department, Maytas companies purchased nearly 500 acres of land in areas like Medchal, Qutubullapur and Bachupally in Ranga Reddy district, sources said. As many as 13 transactions - either of sale or purchase of land - were identified in Medchal and Serilingampally subregistrar offices.

"Most of the land was purchased by Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties in Gachibowli, Nallagandla, Jeedimetla, Gopannapally and Bachupally areas,'' an official said. Maytas companies sold nearly 100 acres in Gopannapally and 85 acres in Bachupally areas in the last three years.

Now the registration department is looking into the details of the land transactions of Ramalinga Raju's family members since 2001. The investigations have been prompted by a CID query that sought the property details of Ramalinga Raju, his brothers Rama Raju and Suryanarayana Raju, wife Nandini Raju, wives of brothers Radharani Rama Raju and Jhansi Rani, son Teja Raju, his wife Anjali, Nithya, daughter of Teja Raju, and younger son Rama Raju (Jr).

According to revenue department, the Rajus have bought an estimated 3,000 acres alone in RR district. Most of the land was in benami names, especially in Qutubullapur and Medchal mandals, the officials added.