Ambidant: After bail rejected, Gali Janardhan Reddy's aide Khan surrenders

Bengaluru: An hour after the 61st CCH court cancelled the interim bail plea of mining baron and former BJP minister Gali Janardhan Reddy's close aide Mehfuz Ali Khan in connection with the multi-crore Ambidant money laundering and bribery case, Khan surrendered before the Ist ACMM court on Tuesday.

The ACMM court sent Khan to judicial custody till November 27. The interim bail of Khan was cancelled following an objection from the Central Crime Branch (CCB) investigating the Ambidant scam.

Khan is accused of mediating an alleged bribe deal between the owners of Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd, Syed Fareed Ahmed and his son Syed Afaq Ahmed, with Reddy. Reddy had allegedly demanded Rs 20 crore from Fareed to bail him out of the Enforcement Directorate investigation in Ambidant's fraudulent transactions.

Khan, according to Fareed's confession before the CCB, took the gold from a jeweller in Ballari and handed over to Reddy which both have denied.

Fareed told the CCB that Reddy asked him to give the money in gold. Accordingly, Fareed purchased gold from a city jeweller, Ramesh Kothari of Ambika Sales Corporation, with the help of Ramesh, the owner of Rajmahal Fancy Jewellers, based in Ballari. Kothari allegedly handed over the 57 kg gold worth '18 crore to Janardhana Reddy via Khan.

While Reddy was arrested in connection with the money laundering and bribery case, Khan had secured interim bail from a local court. However, the interim bail was objected by CCB officials submitting before the court that there were serious allegations againt Khan and he was accused four in the case, following which CCH Magistrate Vidyadhar Shirahatti cancelled the bail.

The CCB is investigating the Ambidant scam in which over 15,000 investors were cheated to the tune of over Rs 900 crore. While Fareed and Afaq were arrested in the case, they were later released on bail by a court.