As sensational details of the treasure trove left behind by the naxalite turned notorious gangster Nayeemuddin alias Nayeem continued to unveil, the Telangana Government on Wednesday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe his real estate dealings and properties.
Sources said the diary and pen drive seized from one of the houses of Nayeem contains the names of police officials, political leaders and journalists who were on his payroll.
Sources said that the names of 15 IPS officers of undivided Andhra Pradesh, and 15 IPS officers from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were found in the diary. It also contained the names of additional SPs, DSPs and inspectors who worked in Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Nalgonda Karimnagar and Warangal. The diary also contain the names of 65 journalists of Nalgonda and Warangal who were known to Nayeem.
The diary also contain the details of Nayeem’s transactions and the jobs he carried out at the behest of the IPS and other police officials.
Specially the name of one police officer has caught the eyes of the investigators who had close link with Nayeem from the days he had turned a police covert in the Peoples War Group (PWG) and helped in elimination of many Maoist leaders which earned promotion and other awards for the said police officers.
later on when Nayeem got involved in criminal activities including extortions, settlement of land disputes and murder this police official continued to extend his patronage to him and used his influence with the other policemen to shield Nayeem, the informed sources said.
The SIT, headed by Inspector General of Police Nagi Reddy, will investigate all the criminal cases in which Nayeem was involved and all the properties including the vast tracts of prime land in Hyderabad and other places.
Official sources said the decision to constitute SIT is taken at the highest level in view of the startling revelations of Nayeem’s ill gotten wealth reported to be more than 2,000 crore. “The SIT will also visit other places in the country including Mumbai, Visakhapatanam, Raipur in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and Goa apart form several districts of Telangana where Nayeem, his relatives and associates possessed a lot of properties including lands”, a senior official said.
Even as the details of more and more properties owned by Nayeem were coming to light during the search operations, investigators’ preliminary estimates put the value of his real estate between `2,000 to `4,000 crore.
Police officials say within Telangana he had real estate properties in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, Medak Nizamabad, Mahabubnagar among other places. The real estate dealers and even public representatives involved in the business were on his hit list from he used to extort huge amounts of money.
“His agents used to drop his name to extort the money. His one phone call was enough to create terror and nobody dared to lodge a complaint because of his connections with the police were well known”, a senior official said on condition of anonymity.
With the help of certain police officials he had threatened 18 public representatives and 220 real estate developers and dealers, he said.
Apart from more than `3 crore cash, several weapons including an AK-47, hundreds of documents of lands and other properties the recovery of a diary and a pen drive has created ripples in the police department political circles.
The SIT will be questioning him and other police officials whose names figure in the diary, the sources said.
Officials probing Nayeem’s dealings were also shocked to find AK-47 rifle and a satellite phone in his possession. They believe that the satellite phone was used for communication with the said police official, who was helping him in eluding the law.
Meanwhile as part of the continuing probe the police today raided another house in Dwarka Nagar colony of Vanasthalipuram in city outskirts which belonged to the members of Nayeem gang. The police broke open the lock and searched the place.
A police team also raided the house of Sridhar Goud, the driver of Nayeem and seized a cash of `40 lakh, four guns and some documents of land deals. The police conducted ths search operation at Goud’s house at Bhavana Enclaves in Sahet Nagar in Vanasthalipuram.
The police had taken Sridhar Goud in to custody at the time of the encounter on Monday in which Nayeem was killed in Shadnagar. As he was not produced in a court so far, his wife filed a habeas corpus petition in a local court demanding that he should be produced before the judge.