Telangana chief poll officer files complaint over rumours that he took land from TRS

Telangana Chief Electoral Officer K Rajat Kumar filed a complaint with the Cyber Crimes wing of the Hyderabad police on Thursday over an alleged smear campaign that accuses him of being a pro-TRS agent. According to him, a Whatsapp message alleges that he favoured the TRS party during the 2019 elections and includes an allegedly fabricated land document which claims that he was ‘gifted’ 15 acres and 25 guntas by the party.  According to the complaint, Rajat Kumar had “purchased the agriculture land at Hemajipur village, Balanagar mandal, Mahabubnagar district, duly registering with the Sub-Registrar, during the years 2013-2014 from different agriculturists.” Seeking an action against the miscreants who allegedly shared the message, the complaint states, “Kindly book an FIR while ensuring that the message is stopped from trolling forthwith and make all efforts to trace out the culprit involved and punish them under extant of provisions of law, as these malicious posts will hurt institutional credibility of the office of the CEO.” Along with the complaint, the CEO attached his own documents of the purchased land. The message reportedly reads that the land was ‘gifted’ to the CEO in 2019, while Rajat Kumar’s documents show that he had purchased the land in 2014. The land was purchased from K Sudhakar, K Vijayababu, K Sreenu and K Raju for Rs 10.61 lakh, and is currently estimated to be valued at Rs 23 lakhs, he said. Police have yet to register a case in this regard. Speaking to TNM, Additional DCP, KCS Raghu Vir said, “We have not filed a case yet, we are seeking a legal opinion on the matter. After taking the legal opinion we will decide on how to proceed with the complaint.”