The Central Crime Branch Police on Sunday arrested mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy on charges of money laundering and bribery after grilling him for two days in connection with the Ambitant scam. Janardhana Reddy will be taken for a medical test and later will be produced before a magistrate. He will be held at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru till November 24. A sessions court in Bengaluru will hear his bail plea on Monday. Officials said Reddy will be treated as a common prisioner without any special treatment.
We have taken the decision to arrest him on the basis of credible evidence and witnesses statements. We will produce him before the magistrate. We are going to recover the money & give it to the investors: Alok Kumar, Additional CP, Central Crime Branch, #Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/0MvDauU8mO
— ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2018
The former BJP minister has been booked under sections 204 (destruction of evidence). 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and multiple sections of Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
According to CCB sources, Janardhana Reddy did not cooperate with the investigators during questioning. “We wanted to know whether he was involved in Ambidant’s business operations or with Fareed, whether he had invested in the company. He kept denying even knowing about Ambidant. When asked whether he knew Fareed, Janardhana Reddy said he had met him a couple of times, but was not involved in Fareed’s business,” the CCB source added.
Janardhana Reddy will be taken for a medical examination to Victoria Hospital and later transferred to Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.
CCB sleuths supposedly told Reddy that they had documented proof of his involvement in the money laundering and bribery case. “He asked to see the documents and also said that the police were framing him. He did not answer any of the questions properly,” the source added.
CCB sources say that Reddy’s personal assistant Ali Khan was also questioned and hence he was booked under Arms Act for possessing five live bullets, which the CCB sleuths found in Ali Khan’s RT Nagar residence.
“Ali Khan’s gun licence had lapsed and he was in possession of live bullets illegally. We have booked him under Arms Act too,” the source added.
The CCB had summoned him in connection to an investigation against Ambidant Marketing Ltd suspected to be involved in a Ponzi scheme. Janardhana Reddy was accused of shielding perpetrators from being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He is currently being questioned by officials of the CCB over the case
CCB had been on the lookout for Janardhana Reddy, after he absconded on Wednesday. They had also raided his mansion in Ballari earlier this week.
On Saturday, however, Janardhana Reddy appeared before the police claiming that he had been in Bengaluru all along and had not absconded.
Janardhana Reddy, a former BJP Minister in the state, is currently out on bail in connection with the multi-crore mining scam that was uncovered in 2011. He is also barred from entering Ballari, his home district, due to a Supreme Court order
Read: CCB raids mining baron Janardhana Reddy’s Ballari mansion: The ponzi scam explained