HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the Agri Gold case, has arrested four persons, including Agri Gold chairman A Venkata Rama Rao, and directors Sheshu Venkata Ramana and Hemasundara Prasad, on the charges of money laundering.The accused were produced in court and shifted to the Chanchalguda Central prison on a 14-day judicial remand. The ED will file a petition before the court seeking police custody of the accused. It will also need to collect more evidence in addition to the probe reports submitted by several investigation agencies.
The Agri Gold management had collected over Rs 6,000 crore from nine lakh customers from AP, Telangana and other States by promising them handsome returns, allegedly duping them. The funds were diverted to various shell companies which were floated by the management. Earlier, officials of the AP CID had conducted a preliminary probe and seized some of the company’s properties.