VIJAYAWADA: A day after the Machilipatnam district court granted bail to the chairman and four directors of AgriGold company, Crime Investigation Department (APCID) officials clarified that the relief was given to them only on technical grounds. “It’s not our failure. They (accused) were granted bail on technical grounds,” said APCID Additional Director General (DG) Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao.
On Tuesday, Machilipatnam district court magistrate Y Lakshmana Rao granted bail to AgriGold chairman Avva Venkata Rama Rao and four directors Avva Hema Sundara Varaprasad, Avva Venkata Sesha Nagendra Rao, Avva Venkata Satyanarayana and Avva Vijaya Bhaskar, citing investigation agency’s failure to file charge sheet in the stipulated time.
The CID officials, meanwhile, are making efforts to approach the High Court and get the bail granted to the accused in the multi-crore scam case cancelled.
Dwaraka Tirumala Rao also refuted the allegations that they failed to file charge-sheet in the case. He further stated that the CID filed a charge-sheet in Eluru special court on June 4. However, he did not reveal how many charge-sheets were filed in the 14 cases registered against the accused all over the state.
“We will challenge the bail in the High Court. Also, we are going to file charge-sheets in all the cases as early as possible,” Tirumala Rao added.
After the AgriGold group failed to refund the deposits, customers filed cases against the chairman and directors in 2014. Since then, police arrested 19 accused, including the chairman and managing directors of the group.
At present, all the accused are in judicial remand at the Eluru district jail. Reacting to the latest development, AgriGold Customers and Agents Welfare Association (ACAWA) honorary president Muppalla Nageswara Rao suspected a foul play by CID officials and warned that depositors would hit roads if the government failed to keep the promise of repaying the money to depositors in two months.