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Sekar Reddy, associates divulge very little to CBI sleuths
With just a day for the CBI custody of Sekar Reddy and his associates to end on January 6 evening, the trio seems to be revealing very little to the interrogators. The CBI has been questioning them at the Anti-Corruption Branch office in Chennai with regard to bulk exchange of demonetised notes.
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Chennai
According to highly placed sources, the accused have been maintaining what they have told the Income Tax department, without revealing the names of the bank officials and public servants who had helped them to exchange the demonetised currency in bulk.
CBI sources said the trio have been questioned by the investigation officers at the ACB office at Shastri Bhavan, Chennai. “They have not opened up on anything yet and we have only time till 5.30 pm tomorrow. They have been maintaining what they had told the Income Tax department that the money they had were their collection from sand mining,” a senior CBI official said.
All the three FIRs registered against Sekar Reddy, Prem Kumar and Srinivasulu have named unknown bank officials and public servants as the accused in these cases and if CBI fails to prove the connivance of the bank officials, they will have no case on their hand.
“What the accused claim are far from the truth as they could not have had Rs 34 crore in new notes as their revenue immediately after the demonetisation. So they will have to tell us which bank officials helped them to exchange the demonetised currency in bulk,” the official added.
CBI had registered the cases against Sekar Reddy and associates after Income Tax department raided their premises and seized Rs 34 crores worth new currencies along with Rs 98.5 crore demonetised currencies and 177 kg of gold. CBI treated each seizure as different case and had registered three FIRs. The case is now being heard by the CBI Court for bank fraud cases at Chennai.
ED produces Parasmal Lodha in Chennai, gets custody
The Enforcement Directorate, which is now investigating money laundering charges against hawala dealer Parasmal Lodha and his Tamil Nadu associates, executed the Prisoner Transit warrant issued against Lodha and produced him at Chennai CBI court from Delhi. The CBI Court granted two-days police custody of Lodha. The ED will be grilling him in Chennai. Parasmal Lodha, according to CBI sources, have been instrumental in exchanging Rs 25 crore worth demonetised currency for Sekar Reddy. ED is also trying to discover his bureaucratic and political connections in Chennai and possible money laundering committed by the gang.
Customs official caught red-handed while taking bribe from metal firm
The Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI in Chennai trapped a Customs assessing officer while taking a bribe of Rs 38,000 from the general manager of a metal company. The CBI sleuths arrested the officer, Priyaranjan when he collected the amount from Harish Raj, general manager of Vaishnavi Metals (Anodes Division).
According to the complainant, Priyaranjan demanded the bribe for clearing the firm’s consignment imported from China. Harish Raj said the company had imported a radiator stripping machine from China as part of their business expansion. The consignment was shipped from China on November 11 and reached Chennai Port on December 15. The Customs officials then assessed the machine and the duty was paid on December 23.
Harish, in his complaint to the CBI, said that the shipment was handled by a private logistics firm and on January 3, the customs officials asked him to meet Priyaranjan as he had some doubts. When Mahesh, who represents the logistics firm along with Harish met Priyaranjan, he claimed that the model number was not mentioned on the machine. Harish then offered the catalogue and a letter from the supplier detailing the model number which the officer refused to accept. Then the official instructed Mahesh to seek a bribe of Rs 38,000 to release the consignment.
Complainant said the officer had asked him to pay the money by Wednesday. Following this Harish approached the Anti-Corruption Branch of CBI. The CBI sleuths then set up the trap and caught Priyaranjan red-handed while accepting the bribe from Harish. The officer was then arrested and remanded to Judicial custody.
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