A major fire accident that broke out in the sub-collector office at Madanapalle in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district late on Sunday night created a big commotion in the government.
The accident took place in the chambers where the lands records of all assembly constituencies, including Madanapalle, Tamballapalle, Pileru, Punganuru and Palamaneru in the district were stored. Apparently, Madanapalle is the biggest revenue division in the entire country.
Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu took serious note of the accident and asked director general of police Dwaraka Tirumala Rao to rush to Madanapalle to make a personal inquiry.
Within minutes, the DGP, along with CID chief and forensic experts flew down to Madanapalle in a special helicopter to conduct an on-the-spot enquiry.
Apparently, as many as 25 important files related to large scale land transactions had been completely gutted, sources said.
Preliminary inquiry revealed that local revenue divisional officer Murali came to sub-collector’s office on Sunday night and only after that the fire accident took place in the office.
What caused more suspicion is that the fire mishap took place only in the land records’ room and the remaining parts of the office remained unaffected.
Surprisingly, the fire tender arrived very late to the sub-collector’s office, though fire station is right behind it.
Naidu reportedly asked the DGP to obtain the footage of the closed-circuit television cameras of the Madanapalle sub-collector’s office.
Apparently, the Naidu government is suspecting the role of the followers of former minster Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy and Tamballapalle MLA Peddireddy Dwarakanath Reddy. An inquiry will bring out all the conspiracy, Naidu is said to have felt.
