The Rachakonda police arrested a former Assistant Sub Inspector of police, Bobbala Mohan Reddy, in Hyderabad on Monday for abetment to suicide of a businessman. The former police officer had allegedly cheated a businessman, Nagamalla Venkata Narasaiah, of his properties despite being aware that the latter was deep in debt.
Narasaiah took his life at a lodge on August 28 this year at Nacharam. He had left a suicide note, accusing B Mohan Reddy and four others for the decision. The deceased had borrowed money for his real estate business but suffered losses and owed money to his partners. The partners pressured Narasaiah to return the money and asked him to hand his over properties worth crores. Narasaiah, under pressure from partners, transferred his properties to Mohan Reddy, who is also his neighbour, so that the businessman could declare bankrupt by filing an insolvency petition in the court.
However, when Narasaiah asked the former police officer to transfer the property back to his name, the latter allegedly refused, claiming that the properties were now registered in his wife, B Latha's name, reported The New Indian Express.
Incidentally, B Mohan Reddy was suspended from the police service in Karimnagar in 2015 after a crackdown by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) following allegations of disproportionate assets against him. The officer had opened a finance company while being a police officer and accepted huge sums of money from his senior police officers. He, in turn, lent that money to the public for high-interest rates and in return paid his superiors an interest for their investments.
The issue came to light when R Prasada Rao, a private school owner took his life in 2015. Rao had taken Rs 50 lakh as loan from the Mohan Reddy but was unable to pay back due to huge interest levied by the officer. Several victims of the police officer soon came forward with allegations of harassment and even formed an association in Karimnagar.
The officer was accused of using his official position and muscle power to recover the money and often would force those in debt to hand over their properties to him. Mohan Reddy was suspended and later arrested, while several officers were transferred over the scam.