Chennai: After hitting the headlines following the arrest of sand don Sekhar Reddy, CBI sleuths seem to be groping in the dark as they are unable to trace bank officials who had helped him and his associates swap Rs 34 crore worth old notes into new notes.
Though the CBI’s anti corruption branch in Chennai had registered 3 cases against Sekhar Reddy, the TN PWD sand contractor and his two associates besides three persons, including Kolkata based businessman Parasmal Lodha and arrested them, the investigators are yet to pick up any government servants who had helped the main suspect in changing notes. Reddy was arrested on December 21.
The FIR registered by CBI in these cases talks about unknown government officials as suspects. The cases were also registered under prevention of corruption act, which is usually slapped against corrupt government officials.
When contacted, a CBI officer claimed that they are following all possible leads but refused to disclose any further details. The sleuths had had taken custody of Sekhar Reddy two times for questioning. They also questioned Parasmal Lodha in custody.
The action by CBI came after Income tax officials raided Sekhar Reddy and his associates in the second week of December 2016 and seized a total of Rs 131 crore cash, including Rs 34 crore worth new '2,000 notes, and 177 kg of gold.
The I-T raids at Sekhar Reddy’s premises also led the income-tax investigators to the houses of the then state chief secretary P Rama Mohana Rao and his son.
