Tadepalli, July 19: YSRCP Legal Cell President Manohar Reddy asserted that the party will challenge the High Court verdict in the Capital Assigned Lands case before the Supreme Court, stating that the judgment does not erase the evidence collected during the investigation or amount to a clean chit for Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. Speaking to the media at the YSRCP Central Office in Tadepalli, he said the case is a Rs. 4,400-crore scam involving the exploitation of more than 1,100 acres of assigned lands belonging to poor SC, ST and BC farmers, based on Chandrababu Naidu’s own valuation. He accused the yellow media of falsely portraying the verdict as an acquittal.
Manohar Reddy said the CID had examined 76 witnesses, recorded statements under Section 164 CrPC, collected bank transaction trails, digital evidence and financial records establishing the flow of Rs. 18.1 crore from Narayana Educational Institutions through intermediaries to assigned landowners. He said the investigation also uncovered audio recordings seized from Narayana Educational Institutions in which former minister Narayana admitted purchasing lands through benamis, but after the change in government, the investigation into those recordings was halted without forensic examination or collection of voice samples.
He stated that the CID, which earlier filed charge sheets and collected evidence, has now been converted into the “Chandrababu Investigation Department,” systematically weakening cases after Chandrababu returned to power. He pointed to the closure of the Skill Development, Liquor, FiberNet and other major cases, the move to close the Inner Ring Road case, and the secret closure of the two assigned lands cases without issuing notices to victims, calling it a deliberate pattern of institutional manipulation.
Stating that the High Court examined only the FIR at the preliminary stage and not the extensive evidence collected during investigation, Manohar Reddy said only a full-fledged trial can determine innocence. He announced that YSRCP will move the Supreme Court and continue its legal battle until justice is secured for the poor farmers whose lands were taken away.
*Dalit freedom will return only with YS Jagan: YSRCP*
