Guntur: Sangam Dairy Financial Irregularities

GUNTUR: The Sangam Dairy Board is now in the eye of controversy after its Chairman and senior TDP leader Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar was arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for alleged financial and administrative irregularities conducted while managing the Board on April 23rd.

The former Ponnur MLA Narendra, who is A1 in the Sangam Dairy financial irregularities case along with the Managing Director P Gopala Krishna and M Gurunadham former District Cooperative Officer were sent to remand for 14 days by the ACB Court and are currently lodged in Rajahmundry Central Jail.

The State government issued an order on Tuesday cancelling the transfer of management of the Sangam Dairy to the Guntur District Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Limited where the day-to-day activities would be monitored by the Sub Collector of Tenali Division, Guntur district.

Also Read: Sangam Dairy: AP High Court Rejects TDP Dhulipalla Narendra's Quash Petition

Sangam Dairy was established in the year 1973 in 77 acres in the Chebrolu Mandal, Vadlamudi Village in Guntur and was later taken over by the AP Dairy Development Corporation.

As per reports, Narendra who was heading the Board for many years had transferred ten acres of land given by the government to Sangam Dairy, to a trust named after his father Veerayya Choudhary without government permission. P Gopala Krishna, the Managing Director, transferred the ten acres to the trust where Narendra was the managing trustee. This is was a violation under By-Law No. 439 of the Cooperative Rules.

A corporate hospital and research centre was built on government land in the name of Veerayya Choudhary against the rules. Narendra's wife Jyothirmayee is currently the MD of the hospital.

In order to convert any cooperative society into a company, one has to pay the arrears to the government, hand over the lands, and get a NOC (non-Objection Certificate) from the District Cooperative Officer (DCO). He obtained the NOC from DCO M Gurunadham, just two days before his retirement on February 28, 2011. Sangam Dairy was later brought under the Companies Act.

The ACB inspected the office of the Guntur District Cooperative Officer in this regard. It turned out that the NOC and other related documentation was falsely created to benefit Narendra.

On the other hand, Narendra took a loan of Rs 115.58 crore in 2013 by forging documents in the name of the APDDC commissioner and mortgaging them to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). This amount was diverted to build and maintain the hospital in his father's name.

The ACB also collected 51 documents related to 72.54 acres purchased in 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978 with Sangam Dairy profits and government funds. Dhulipalla Narendra created fake documents with forged signatures to illegally take over these lands.

The government enacted the Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Act in 1995. Accordingly, in order to bring a cooperative society under the purview of this society, the lands belonging to the government have to be given back and the arrears have to be paid.

Without doing that on February 1, 1997, the Sangam Dairy management was transferred to Guntur District Milk Producers Mutually Aided  Cooperative Union Ltd under the MACS Act.

Narendra was managing the affairs of Sangam Dairy and along with his own private milk company named Milk Line that was against the rules. He later made his wife Jyothirmayee the MD for Milk Line Company to avoid any issues.

The ACB registered cases against Narendra and Gopala Krishna under sections 13(1)(c)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Sec 408,409,418,420,465, 471,120-B r/w 34 IPC. After his arrest, a notice under Section 50 of the CrPC was also served to Narendra's wife Jyothirmayee.

Also Read: Vijayawada: Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar Sent to 14-day Remand By ACB

Narendra is also chairman of Guntur District Milk Producers Cooperative Union Limited and Guntur District Milk Producers Mutually Aided Cooperative Union Limited. A close aide of N Chandrababu Naidu, Narendra was a five-time MLA Ponnur constituency on a TDP ticket from 1994 to 2019. In fact, the Sangam Dairy chairman post was given to him by Chandrababu Naidu when he was Chief Minister in the year  2010. Narendra later lost the 2019 Assembly Elections to YSR Congress Party leader Kilari Venkata Rosaiah by a margin of 1,112 votes.