After he was produced before the media, Mr. Keshava Reddy admitted that he owed money to people and said he was prepared to hand over his properties to the government as a sign of his good intentions. Stating that lopsided financial planning and a slump in the real estate market had landed in the present situation, he sought time till July 2016 to make repayments.
Mr Reddy also professed concern for the 4,500 teachers who work in his 40 schools and the one lakh students who study in them. He said students are provided free books, uniforms, hostel and bus facilities.
“I would have filed an insolvency petition if I had intended to cheat parents. But I explored ways to repay the money, but it was not possible,” he said.
Stating that his residential schools imparted quality education to students for the last 23 years, Mr. Keshava Reddy said he was solely responsible for the fiasco and neither principals nor teachers were to blame.
The educational group started operations in 1993 with a school in Nandyal with 196 students.
SP Ravikrishna assured parents that the schools would continue to run. Legal measures would be taken to attach Mr Keshava Reddy’s properties. Aggrieved depositors could file complaints in Kurnool Central Crime Station.
A parent Lakshmi Devi, a tailor from Kothapet in Dhone, wailed that she deposited over Rs. 5 lakh seven years ago for her three children who studied in the school from fourth standard up to 10th. As she was not refunded the deposit, she was facing a hardship in admitting her children in junior colleges.
