VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued interim orders staying any further action against Margadarsi Chit Fund Private Limited (MCFPL) Chairman Ch Ramoji Rao and Managing Director Ch Sailaja Kiran in the case filed by APCID for allegedly threatening and getting the shares of a person transferred on the name of Sailaja Kiran, for eight weeks. The court also directed the CID not to take any coercive action against the duo.
The CID filed a case on October 13 based on a complaint lodged by Gadireddi Yuri Reddi alleging that Ramoji Rao threatened him at gunpoint and got his shares transferred on the name of Sailaja Kiran fraudulently. Ramoji Rao and Sailaja Kiran filed a petition in the High Court on October 16, seeking quash of the FIR.
When the petition came up for hearing, the petitioners’ counsels Sidharth Luthra and Nagamuthu informed the court that the government was harassing the petitioners by registering cases. The counsels informed the court that Yuri Reddi was paid through a cheque for transferring his shares. Yuri Reddi who signed the documents pertaining to the transfer of shares to MCFPL, later complained to the Registrar of Companies. While the complaint is pending before the Registrar, he lodged a complaint with the CID.
The counsels argued that MCFPL was established in Hyderabad and the share transfer also took place in Hyderabad and the APCID does not have any jurisdiction to probe into the matter. Though Sailaja Kiran is not facing any allegations, her name was also included in the FIR, they added.
APCID’s counsel Y Sivakalpana Reddy said the complainant had lodged the complaint with the investigating agency as it had already launched a probe into the alleged irregularities in MCFPL. The counsel informed that they are yet to investigate the origin of the stamp on the document pertaining to the transfer of shares and urged the court not to give any interim orders. The CID counsel said the case would be transferred to the Telangana CID, if the court is of the view that the APCID does not have jurisdiction on it.
Questioning the APCID as to how it could register a case on an alleged offence that took place in Telangana, Justice BVLN Chakravarthi issued orders staying all the further proceedings in the case. The court asked the CID to file a counter and posted the matter for hearing on December 6.