HC dismisses pleas to quash ECIR in Bhoodan land case

Hyderabad: Telangana high court on Thursday dismissed a batch of petitions seeking to quash an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the alleged Bhoodan land scam at Nagaram village in Rangareddy district on the outskirts of Hyderabad.The writ petitions were filed by M A Akthar, Lateef Rahman Sharfan and Abdul Rahman Sharfan, who were named accused by the agency. They challenged the legality of the ECIR and the ongoing proceedings initiated by the agency against them, and sought cancellation of the ECIR, contending that the action initiated by the central agency was unwarranted and without proper basis. They urged the high court to stall all consequential proceedings against them.Refusing to grant the relief sought, a division bench comprising Justices P Sam Koshy and Suddala Chalapathi Rao upheld the agency's authority to continue its probe and dismissed the petitions.Meanwhile, ED's counsel Narender Naik argued that the preliminary probe revealed several illegalities and huge money transactions involving the petitioners. Stating that an in-depth inquiry ws needed, he submitted that the ED`s investigation was not in the line of the local police and added that ED was probing the money laundering aspect.The case arose out of allegations concerning illegal transfer and sale of Bhoodan and govt land parcels situated in certain survey numbers in Nagaram village.Based on an FIR registered by the local police, ED took up a probe, conducted searches at the houses of some of the accused and seized incriminating material, including property documents. Later, the accused were also summoned for questioning.