Chennai: CBI has registered two more cases against former Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam board member Sekhar Reddy, his associates K.Srinvasulu and K.Prem Kumar in connection with two instances of cash seizures by the income-tax department in which new Rs 2,000 notes worth Rs 8 crore and Rs 1.63 crore were seized.
The three were already arrested by CBI for the seizure of Rs 24 crore worth of new notes and are lodged in Puzhal prison. In the latest two cases also the CBI had listed unknown bank officials and public servants as suspects and cases were registered under criminal conspiracy, cheating as well as prevention of corruption act.
Income-tax sleuths had seized Rs 131 crore cash and 177 kg gold during raids at the premises of Tamil Nadu PWD sand contractor Sekhar Reddy and his associates in the second week of December. The seizure had later led the income tax sleuths to the doorsteps of the then chief secretary P.Rama Mohana Rao and his son Vivek Papisetty.
“Income tax department has seized Rs 8 crore of new Rs 2,000 notes from the residence of Sekhar Reddy in Sudhama Building on Vijayaraghava Road, T Nagar on December 9. Sekhar Reddy is a government contractor who operates majority of government run sand quarries in Vellore and neighbouring districts. The other seizure of Rs 1.63 crore of new Rs 2,000 notes was made at his residence at Yogambal Street in T Nagar.
The three suspects, with help of unknown public servants converted unauthorised cash held by them in old currency notes in to new Rs 2,000 notes, thus depriving the public in enforcing their rights. The bank officials had helped the suspects to change the old notes in large scale for their own benefits," a CBI official said.
Sekhar’s case goes to new CBI court
In a sudden twist, the Principal Special court for CBI cases, Chennai on Tuesday transferred the new currency exchange case registered against sand mining baron J. Sekhar Reddy and his business associates from the court to the XI Additional Special Court for CBI Cases. As the Principal Special Judge for CBI cases, G. Vijaylakshmi on Friday dismissed the police custody petition of CBI, the judicial custody of all the five accused is expected to end on Tuesday.
When the matter came up for hearing before the principal special judge, G. Vijaylakshmi, the CBI sought to transfer the case to the XI Additional Special Court for CBI Cases, which conducts trial relating to bank fraud cases.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate also registered a similar case against J. Sekhar Reddy and others.
The ED alleged that the officials seized new currency notes in the house of Sekhar Reddy at Venkat Narayanan Road, Chennai. The ED also filed a petition before the CBI Judge seeking Prisoners Transit (PT) warrant to inquire Parasmal Lodha, who allegedly assisted Sekhar Reddy in the conversion of the new currency notes. Lodha, a native of Kolkata, was arrested by ED in Mumbai last week and now detained in Delhi prison.
The XI Additional Special Judge K. Venkatasamy directed the personnel to produce Parasmal Lodha to assist the prosecution in the present case against Sekhar Reddy. The Judge issued the prisoner's transit warrant enabling Lodha to escort to Chennai and produce before the court.
