Charu Sinha To Lead SET Probe On Dharani Portal

Hyderabad: Senior IPS officer Charu Sinha will head the Special Investigation Team (SET) constituted by the state government to investigate allegations of irregularities in the Dharani land records portal during the previous BRS regime.

Official sources said the government is expected to issue official orders regarding the appointment of the chairman and members.
The SET will investigate alleged irregularities in registrations, mutations, changes in land records, land classifications, beneficiary details, official approvals and digital records.

SET members include police chiefs Sindhu Sharma (counter intelligence) and Harshavardhan (cyber security), along with criminal investigation department ADGP and ACB Director General Charu Sinha.

At the same time, IAS officers Anudeep Durishetty, joint secretary, IT; Apurva Chauhan, project director, CMRVO, land administration; and Manda Makarand, project officer, ITDA, Utnoor. A technical expert from the National Informatics Center (NIC) will also be part of the team.
The investigation will examine procedural deficiencies in the tender process conducted by Telangana Technology Services for the Dharani portal, which was launched on October 29, 2020. It will examine the tender, evaluation, award, design, development, operation and maintenance of the portal and examine whether the process complies with legal norms.

Allegations regarding the financial condition of the selected entity, including insolvency allegations, and questions regarding investments in the company and their registration with the RBI and SEBI will also be examined.
The SET will investigate allegations of unauthorized transactions, security breaches affecting sensitive land ownership records, deficiencies in the payment gateway, and failure to deposit transaction fees to the government as required. It will also review transactions carried out outside the Dharani system, after official business hours, without proper supervision or evidence of authorized entry.
The investigation will cover transactions from the launch of Dharani to the inauguration of the Congress government in December 2023, with a particular focus on allotted and government lands.

Allegations that lands belonging to poor beneficiaries and vacant government lands were removed from the Section 22-A prohibited list and transferred to private persons will be investigated. Special attention will be given to Rangareddy and Medchal districts where authorities have reportedly detected large-scale transfers of government land.

In Medchal-Malkajgiri, the allegations include real estate developers purchasing ceiling and allotment lands and big companies taking control of 22-A properties through manipulation of records.
The SET will also examine allegations of misuse of digital keys of senior officials to alter land records, issuance of fake pattadar passbooks and government orders, fake land certificates and illegal de-notification of government lands before inclusion in digital records.

The Congress government had earlier shifted Dharani’s operations from a private agency to NIC and renamed it Bhu Bharati, while also taking preliminary inputs from forensic and expert committees.
While SET was given the authority to assign field experts to judicial and technical institutions, government units were instructed to provide the necessary assistance. It will provide interim reports and recommend measures to strengthen portal security. Based on its findings, the SET is expected to recommend filing criminal cases and taking legal action against authorities, private individuals and others found responsible for the alleged irregularities.