CBI arrests three associates of Sekhar Reddy

The CBI sleuths arrested Prem Kumar Reddy and Sekhar Reddy’s accomplices Ramachandran and Rathinam, both hailing from Dindigul. Prem Kumar Reddy is the accused number two in the FIR that CBI had registered against Sekhar Reddy on December 19.

All the three accused have been produced before the Special Court for CBI cases, Chennai and have been remanded to judicial custody. CBI sources said the accused need to be interrogated thoroughly to expose the illegal nexus he had with top officials to know who had helped him in exchanging huge quantities of demonetised notes for new ones. CBI has moved a petition seeking 15 days of police custody for the accused. Meanwhile, the accused have also moved a bail petition in the court. Both cases would be coming up for hearing on Friday. 

The ACB had registered an FIR under Sections 120 B r/w 409 and 420 of IPC and 13(2) r/w 13(1) (c) and 13 (1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act against Sekhar Reddy (A1), Prem Kumar Reddy (A2) and Srinivasa Reddy (A3) along with unknown bank officials and public servants. CBI acted upon an information provided to them by the Income Tax Investigation department after they seized Rs 34 crore worth new currency from Sekhar Reddy’s offices and home. 

CBI, in its FIR, had stated that the accused had criminal charges proved against them prima facie, which established the fact that they had connived with unknown bank officials and public servants and got the demonetised currency exchanged in bulk. Latest investigation by I-T had exposed that a senior bureaucrat had written personal letters to three private banks, two at T Nagar and one at Tirupati, directing them to exchange the currency to Sekhar Reddy as he was the most important government contractor and needed to pay the wages of his employees so that the government projects are not affected.