VIJAYAWADA: Former minister and Krishna district YSRCP president Perni Venkataramaiah (Nani) got relief from the Andhra Pradesh High Court in the PDS rice missing case from the warehouse belonging to his wife Perni Jayasudha. The High Court directed police not to take any coercive steps against Nani until further hearing of the case on January 6.
Justice Konakanti Sreenivasa Reddy issued orders to this effect on Tuesday.
Jayasudha constructed the warehouse in Machilipatnam and rented it to the Civil Supplies Department. Following a complaint about disappearance of the PDC rice stock from the warehouse, the police registered a case against Jayasudha. She got anticipatory bail from the local court on Monday.
The former minister filed a lunch motion petition in the High Court seeking anticipatory bail after being named as an accused in the PDS rice missing case by the Machilipatnam Taluka police.
Petitioner’s counsel Chitharapu Raghu argued that Nani was in no way connected to the business transactions that took place between JS Warehouse and the Civil Supplies Corporation. The police registered a case against Nani, accusing him of committing criminal breach of trust under BNS Section 316 (5). The Section does not apply to Nani as he is not a banker, merchant or agent, the counsel contended.
Mentioning that the police named Nani as an accused after the court sanctioned interim bail to his wife, the counsel brought it to the notice of the court that a case was registered against the former minister for political reasons.
Public Prosecutor Menda Lakshminarayana argued that Nani had a role behind the disappearance of PDS rice.
Underscoring the need to take Nani into custody for questioning, he appealed to the court not to issue any interim orders at the stage. However, the court issued orders directing the police not to take any coercive steps against Nani until further hearing of the case, and posted it to January 6.