Senior IAS officer L.V. Subramanyam, who was named as the tenth accused in the Emaar Properties land deal scam case by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), has appealed to a special court here to strike down charges levelled against him stating that they are far from the truth and have no ground.
In a petition filed on behalf of Mr. Subramanyam, it was stated that the officer, in his capacity as the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), had neither caused any loss to the exchequer nor any benefit to the joint venture company Emaar-MGF in sale of 535 acres land at Gachibowli.
Mr. Subramnyam requested the court to absolve him of all charges levelled against him by CBI, not to take up the process of framing of charges against him and exempt him from the trial.
He headed APIIC prior to B.P. Acharya, the first-accused in the case, and is working as the Executive Officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) now. The government had rejected the CBI plea to allow it prosecute the IAS officer under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
There was no truth in the CBI charge that he had cleared the sale of land at Rs. 29 lakh per acre as against the recommendation of Rs. 40 lakh per acre, as fixed by a committee of APIIC. He contended in his petition that there were no instructions to him from the government to transfer the land at Rs. 40 lakh per acre.
Admitting his petition the judge directed the CBI to file its counter on Friday. Arguments on the petition are also likely to be taken up on Friday.