Bhanu Kiran bought 200 acres of land through extortion: police

In his confession to CID officials who are investigating the Suri murder case, Bhanu revealed that he along with his associates Madhu Mohan Reddy, Mangali Krishna and Ediga Srikanth Goud and others were involved in as many as 23 'settlements' and extortions, CID Additional DGP S V Raman Murthy said adding steps were being initiated to freeze bank accounts of Bhanu and his associates.

Bhanu Kiran, one of the most wanted persons in Andhra Pradesh and a former aide of Suri and on the run for 15 months, was arrested by a CID team on April 21.

Among the major settlements during 2005-06, Bhanu and his associates threatened the contractors bidding for Hundri- Neeva Irrigation project in Anantapur district by asking them not to submit their tenders and in turn got the works worth Rs 178 crore alloted to three private companies and collected Rs 18.5 crore from them, the top CID official said.

Bhanu and his associates also interfered in a dispute concerning seven acres of land at Serilingampally here and collected Rs 1.2 crore from Tollywood producer Shiva Ram Krishna and others, Murthy said.

"Out of this extorted money and also by threatening the land owners, Bhanu and his associates purchased agriculture and other lands measuring 214 acres in different parts of the state having market value of worth Rs 140 crore," the CID Additional DGP claimed. MORE