An investigative report carried by a Telugu newspaper made a devastating exposé of an unprecedented land-title scam under the Dharani system during the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government headed by then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
According to the report, around 25 lakh acres of government land was allegedly converted into titled (patta) holdings through directives from above and the actions of a land-management tech agency named Terrasis.
The investigative piece claims that prior to Dharani there were 1.3 crore acres classified as patta land; after Dharani the figure rose to 1.55 crore acres with government land, forest land, endowment land, disputed parcels, inam and waqf properties allegedly converted into pattas.
The story questions who ordered these changes, who benefits, and who ultimately owns Terrasis.
The report asserts that the present state government commissioned a forensic audit — assigning the job to a government entity called the Kerala Security Audit Assurance Centre — to probe Dharani irregularities.
Meanwhile, the exposé alleges attempts to erase incriminating records (for example, cancelling VROs), and catalogues a long list of alleged corruption across power procurement, Kaleshwaram project contracts, rice-mill scams, phone-tapping, and other large-value frauds linked to political actors.
The news report questions why prosecutorial or investigative action (ED, CBI, police) is missing or stalled in many of these alleged cases despite purported evidence and asserts that entrenched political interests and alliances have protected the perpetrators.
It raises the broader moral point that, even in societies with entrenched elites, the scale alleged here — 25 lakh acres converted to pattas — is extraordinary and calls for urgent, transparent investigation.