BENGALURU: Former minister G Janardhana Reddy was arrested and sent to jail by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police on Sunday in connection with the multi-crore cheating case. He was remanded in judicial custody till November 24.
Reddy, who had appeared before the CCB officials on Saturday evening, was subjected to interrogation for more than 20 hours, before his arrest was formalised on Sunday.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar told reporters, "Based on the evidence we have gathered and the statements made by witnesses, we found that his (Reddy) arrest is required in the case. We have formalised his arrest. We will further probe the case to recover the money invested by people."
Police said both Reddy and his close aide Ali Khan have been booked for criminal conspiracy, cheating and other charges. It is learnt that Reddy, who initially denied his role in the case, was shocked when the CCB officials put before him the documents related to his alleged financial dealings with Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd. The police had also called in the prime accused in the case and the firm’s proprietor Syed Fareed Ahmed and brought him face-to-face with Reddy.
“Reddy refused to buy Fareed’s version but the latter kept on asking Reddy to admit his role. He directly accused Reddy of getting Rs. 20 crore from him to help in connection with the case filed against him by Enforcement Directorate. But Reddy told Fareed that the latter had transferred Rs. 18 crore to Ambika Jewellers and he was not the owner of that company. However, when he was shown other documents and even the other witnesses told his direct involvement in the deal, Reddy became silent,” a source in the CCB said.
Soon after the arrest, Reddy was taken to Victoria Hospital for a medical check-up and then to a magistrate’s house in Koramangala. The CCB police produced him but did not request for his police custody. Following this, the magistrate remanded him in judicial custody till November 24. Later, the CCB police took him to the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.
Reddy’s name had emerged during the investigation of a cheating case in which he was accused of receiving 57 kg of gold worth Rs. 18 crore from Syed Fareed Ahmed, proprietor of Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd, which has duped over 15,000 investors to the tune of around Rs 600 crore. Reddy allegedly received gold from Fareed, promising to bail him out from an Enforcement Directorate (ED) case.