As the farmers of Amaravati are on a long march from Amaravati to Arasavalli, the CID police on Tuesday arrested five persons in the assigned lands case. Former minister and TDP leader, Ponguri Narayana is the prime accused in the case.

The CID arrested Kolli Sivaram of Poranki in Vijayawada, Gattem Venkatesh of Prashanti Nagar in Vijayawada, Chikkala Vijaya Saradhi of MVP Colony in Visakhapatnam, Bade Anjaneyulu of P&T Colony in Visakhapatnam and Kotti Krishna Dora Babu of I B Colony in Visakhapatnam.

The case was filed on the complaint of Yalamati Prasad Kumar of Duggirala in Guntur district alleging that these persons were involved in the purchase of 169.27 acres of assigned lands in Amaravati.

The complainant said that Narayana, who was then Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, had misused his power and created panic among the SCs over the land pooling. The then minister and his persons have conspired with Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited and purchased these lands from the SCs in Amaravati, the complainant said.

The CID further found that the money was paid to the SCs from the bank accounts of the Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited. The CID also alleged that Kommareddy Brahmananda Reddy, Gummadi Suresh, Saifulla Rahaman, Potluri Jayanth, Ala Venkata Subbaiah, Pidaparti Titus Babu, and Seelam Sreenivasa Rao did the mediation for the transaction of the assigned lands from the SCs in violation of the laws.

The CID said that financial transactions of Rs 15 crore are seen from the entities connected to Narayana, his family members to the Ramakrishna Housing Private Limited. The CID further said that the flow of funds is also connected to the purchase of the assigned lands from the SCs in Amaravati at low prices.