SIT arrests ex-minister after key accused links him to ₹3 crore fake liquor racket.
Vijayawada: The excise department on Sunday arrested former minister and YSRC leader Jogi Ramesh in a spurious liquor case. His brother Jogi Ramu and personal assistant Arepalli Ramu were also taken into custody.
Excise police teams cordoned off the former minister’s residence at Ibrahimpatnam on the outskirts of Vijayawada and took the three into custody. Criminal cases had been registered at Bhavanipuram police station here and at Mulakalacheruvu in Annamayya district, citing illegal manufacture and sale of adulterated liquor.
The excise police shifted Jogi Ramesh, his brother, and his aide to the excise’s East police station at Gurunanak Colony in Vijayawada and started interrogation.
According to cops, Addepalli Janardhana Rao, his brother A Jaganmohan Rao, and several others were operating illicit distillation and liquor distribution units in both districts. The excise police recently raided these distillery units and liquor outlets, seizing large quantities of spurious liquor and raw materials.
The state government constituted a special investigation team headed by Eluru range IGP Ashok Kumar to conduct a detailed probe into the case.
Jogi Ramesh’s wife Shakuntala accused the police of political bias in the arrest. She said the arrest was the TD-led government’s ploy to settle scores and asserted that Ramesh was innocent. Shakuntala condemned the police's conduct, saying officers came to their home early in the morning, locked the doors, and behaved rudely. She expressed faith in divine justice and hoped for fairness.
Jogi Ramesh’s son, Rajeev, criticised the arrest as illegal, as “no prior notice was given,” and called it a political tactic by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. He sought a CBI probe into the illicit liquor case and insisted his father be made to undergo a lie detector test to establish his innocence.
