HYDERABAD: BJP MP and industrialist from Andhra Pradesh, CM Ramesh, has been named accused number 1 in a forgery case involving a reported loss of Rs 450 crore to actor Venu’s PCL Joint Venture company.
The case came to light after Kavuri Bhaskar Rao, son of former Union minister Sambasiva Rao, appeared before the Central Crime Station here on Saturday to record his statement in relation to the incident.
According to Venu’s complaint, which was originally registered at the Jubilee Hills police station in 2023, the PCL-Intertech Lenhydro Consortium Joint Venture had appointed Bhaskar Rao as its representative vide General Power of Attorney (GPA) in January 2002.
Thereafter, the company entered into a contract with Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited (THDC) for execution of civil works at Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand.
As the GPA holder, Bhaskar Rao is the authorised signatory for all works related to the completion of the hydro project. However, Venu alleged that 10 months later, in November 2002, CM Ramesh, who is the authorised signatory of Rithwik Swathi Joint Venture (alleged to be a bogus company), forged the signatures of Bhaskar Rao in what is said to be a fabricated agreement.
Meanwhile, Bhaskar Rao approached a forensics lab to verify if there was a forgery involved. The test reports allegedly showed that the signatures on the document in question were indeed forged.
Subsequently, Venu lodged a complaint at the Jubilee Hills police station in November 2023. The case was then transferred to the Central Crime Station in December 2023.
CM Ramesh, who was earlier in TDP, has also been previously accused of creating shell companies and siphoning off money.
Recent data released by the Election Commission of India (ECI) shows that Rithwik Projects Pvt Ltd, the company owned by CM Ramesh’s family, donated Rs 45 crore to various political parties. The company also secured a Rs 1,098-crore engineering, procurement and construction contract for the Sunni hydroelectric project in Himachal Pradesh.