Kalaburagi: In a joint operation, Kalaburagi and Mandya police arrested Bheema Naik, Special Land Acquisition officer of the KAS cadre, from a house here Sunday morning.
Bheema Naik is allegedly involved in a money laundering case in which he is accused of converting Rs 100 crore of old currency into new notes for former BJP minister Gali Janardhan Reddy for a commission, before the recent marriage of Reddy’s daughter. The ‘exchange of cash’ was revealed by Naik’s driver, Ramesh Gowda, in the suicide note he left behind after he killed himself alleging harassment by the officer for being witness to the illegal act.
The cops also took another driver of Bheema Naik, Mohammed, into custody and have seized Naik’s mobile phones. Naik became close to the Reddys during their ‘reign’ of Ballari (from 2008 to 2011).
Naik picked up from kin’s house
According to well placed sources, the Mandya police arrived here this morning following credible information that the KAS officer had taken shelter in the city at his relative’s house in the CIB Colony. Naik was said to have entered the city in his own vehicle from Humanad side.
However neither cash nor any incriminating documents were found with Naik, the sources added. He would be taken to Mandya for interrogation by the police there.
Bheema Naik in police custody
Naik had been on the run after his driver Ramesh Gowda committed suicide on December 7, alleging that the officer was harassing him as he knew details regarding the laundering of black money for mining giant and former BJP leader Gali Janardhan Reddy. Gowda had claimed that Reddy had converted close to Rs 100 crore of black money into white, by paying 20 per cent commission to Naik.
According to the suicide note, Gowda was forced to take the extreme step as he was receiving regular death threats.
Naik is said to have become close to the Reddy brothers during their heydays (from 2008 to 2011), when they were virtually running the “Reddy Republic” in Ballari. He was the tahasildar of Ballari then and it was alleged that he used to work as their ‘henchman’.
The people of Ballari recall the ‘brutal’ ways in which he handled the farmers’ agitation against the acquisition of fertile land at Chagnur-Siriwar for an airport, which was strongly backed by the Reddys.
Duo in CID custody
A team of CID officials went to Maddur and took Naik and Mohammed into custody on Sunday night. “A team has already reached Maddur in Mandya and have also started questioning the accused. However, it’s too early to jump into any conclusion in the case. We still have a lot of work to do and we would question several other persons related to the case,” an official said.
Cancel Janardhan Reddy’s bail: AAP
In the wake of arrest of KAS officer Bheema Naik, Aam Admi Party state unit on Sunday demanded cancellation of bail for former BJP minister G. Janardhan Reddy and dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to suspend his party MP and BJP State Vice President B. Sriramulu from all his positions.
AAP state co-convener Shivakumar Chengalaraya told reporters that while whole nation is queuing up daily in front of banks and ATMs, to get meagre Rs 2,000 of their own hard earned money, the illegal mining mafia kingpin, Janardhan Reddy, was able to host a lavish wedding of his daughter.
“Naik episode clearly exposes that he had made a deal with Reddy and Sriramulu, to convert Rs 100 crore of their black money, in old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, into new ones,” he alleged.
He also suspected that the new notes, worth crores of rupees, found in the recent IT raids in Chennai from the house of Shekhar Reddy, may be belonging to Janardhan Reddy. “When Shekhar Reddy was made a member of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Board, TDP-BJP coalition government was in power in Andhra Pradesh and Endowments Department Minister Manikyala Rao was a close associate of Janaradhan Reddy.
When Reddy brothers were involved in mining scam in Karnataka, illegal export of extracted ore was also done from Nellore and Chennai ports and the role of Manikyala Rao is well known to people of both states. Now that huge quantity of new notes have been recovered from the aid of Rao, the suspicion that Janardhan Reddy had explored all avenues to convert his money,” he further charged.
To buttress his arguments, Chengalraya asserted that the death note of Ramesh Gowda becomes clearer in this context. “The involvement of Rao in the wedding arrangements and his shuttling between Bengaluru and Ballari also exposes the involvement of BJP leaders in money laundering. Since this episode needs detailed and thorough probe, AAP demands a court monitored investigation from the Centre,” he contended.
