Centre okays B P Acharya's prosecution

Hyderabad: The Centre has accorded permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute senior IAS officer B P Acharya, who is currently principal secretary (home), Telangana, for his alleged role in the Indu Tech Zone irregularities in the YS Jaganmohan Reddy assets case.
The CBI which investigated the case, sought the Centre's permission under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act to prosecute the IAS officer as his role was found to be dubious in the Indu Tech project that was conceived in the name of promoting information technology.Following an application from the CBI seeking sanction for Acharya's prosecution, the Centre studied the case and referred it to President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the relevant authority for either appointing or sacking officers of All India Services, including IAS and IPS officers.
The President too accorded permission and conveyed to the CBI officials in Hyderabad last week. They filed a memo in the CBI court on Friday furnishing the sanction letter and also informing the court about the Centre's decision.
According to the CBI chargesheet, as APIIC MD, Acharya went out of his way and promoted Indu Syam Prasad Reddy's consortium for developing an IT SEZ and allotted 250 acres at Shamshabad at just Rs 20 lakh per acre in December 2005. Though Syam Prasad Reddy had showed expert firms from Bangalore, and other cities as his partners in the consortium just to secure the land, all the other so-called expert partners have disappeared by the time the land was allotted to Indu Tech Zone.Acharya, who was supposed to initiate action against Indu for misleading the state, had actually allowed Syam Prasad Reddy to transfer huge chunks of SEZ the land to his real estate firms like SPR properties and make money through its sale and also through generating bank loans pledging the land. CBI said in its chargesheet that on account of Acharya's `complicity', Indu firm, which possessed no relevant expertise to develop an IT SEZ, made more than Rs 100 crore.
The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case in October 2013 naming Acharya as accused number 9. It slapped several sections of IPC that deal with cheating and criminal conspiracy on him, along with the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
CBI said in the chargesheet that Y S Jaganmohan Reddy extended help to Syam Prasad Reddy by influencing his father and the late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy and in return Syam Prasad had invested more than Rs 70 crore in firms owned by Jagan.
Acharya was allegedly part of this criminal conspiracy to benefit a few private individuals, the CBI said. Syam Prasad Reddy's Indu firm got another 8,000 acres in Anantapur district for developing a knowledge hub which too was turned out to be a fraudulent deal, and CBI has filed a separate chargesheet on that. Since the Prevention of Corruption Act says that the Centre's permission is required to prosecute IAS officials, the CBI court has been dealing with the case against Acharya under IPC provisions only . Now the CBI is urging the court to try Acharya under the PCA. Interestingly the CBI is still struggling to secure the Centre's nod for Acharya's prosecution in Emaar-MGF scam, in which he was named accused number one.