Hyderabad: A real estate agent from Nizampet, an associate of Chunduri Venkata Koti Sai Kumar, mastermind behind the multi-crore Telugu Akademi scam, was arrested by the CCS police of Hyderabad on Tuesday. This is the 17th arrest in the scam so far.
G. Venkata Krishna Reddy, arrested on Tuesday, was involved in similar scams in Andhra Pradesh and Hyderabad, the police said. The suspects being questioned by the officials include the Akademi staff, bank officials, and a few private persons linked to Sai Kumar.
Apart from Sai Kumar, the police have arrested Akademi's accounts officer S. Ramesh, managers of Union Bank of India and Canara Bank, Shaik Mastanvali and M. Sadhana, respectively.
Police are interrogating six arrested persons after taking them into custody as part of the investigation. "Fake letters which were submitted in banks on behalf of the Akademi were processed on priority by Mastanvali and Sadhana. They acted as couriers," officials said.
Sai Kumar was involved in similar offences in AP and Chennai. He withdrew the FDs of AP Minority Welfare Society in 2012 and the case is being investigated by the Crime Investigation Department (CID). Kumar was an accused in the AP Housing Board Scam of nearly Rs 6 crore and a Rs 25-crore FD fraud of Northern Coal Fields in Chennai, both cases are being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
