Whether the YSR Congress Party government will order a thorough probe into the call money-cum-sex scandal involving more than ₹1,000 crore, in which several victims were sexually abused and a few died in the State, has become a topic of debate following the resounding win of the party in the just-concluded Assembly elections.
The YSRCP, which was in the Opposition then, raised the issue in the Assembly and demanded a judicial inquiry into the scandal.
The Vijayawada police, which investigated the call money cases then, acted tough against the call money organisers, including some political leaders, employees and money lenders. Call money cases were also registered in East and West Godavari, Chittoor and other districts in the State.
Police swing into action
Following a complaint that a call money gang had sexually abused a girl student, the Machavaram police registered cases against seven members under Sections 420, 376, 354, 384, 506 and 509, all under IPC, in 2015. Soon after the scandal broke out in December 2015, then Vijayawada Police Commissioner D. Gautam Sawang acted swiftly against the organisers and opened a Call Money Cell in the Commissionerate to receive petitions directly from the victims.
Petitions galore
About 1,900 petitions were received and Mr. Sawang constituted four teams with members of the Bar Association, NGOs and the police, under Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) system to settle the cases.
The Task Force and the Law and Order police conducted raids, arrested more than 100 organisers, seized about 1,000 promissory notes, 200 blank cheques, many stamp papers, ATM Cards, property documents, agreement papers and registration documents of many victims, from the organisers.
‘Women abused’
“The gang, which managed to collect promissory notes and empty cheques from a family, sedated a girl member and sexually abused her several times at different places.
“A few victims resorted to suicides unable to bear the harassment of the organisers in the State. A few MLAs, MLCs and leaders of TDP, Congress and other parties were among the call money organisers,” a top police officer said.
The modus operandi was to offer instant loan of a few lakhs of rupees at a very high interest, make the borrowers and all family members to sign on empty promissory notes, stamp papers, collect the property documents, bank passbooks, ATM cards and registration papers.
‘Assets grabbed’
In many cases, even after the borrower repaid half of the loan, the call money organisers took possession of properties worth crores of rupees through courts or by using force, as they already had all necessary documents in their hands. In some cases, they summoned family members on the pretext of returning documents and sexually abused the women and girls from victims’ families. police claimed.
“We received about 1,940 complaints in Call Money Cell, of which about 400 cases were registered and are under trial. The teams constituted by Mr. Sawang settled many cases amicably and the cell was closed recently,” an investigation officer of the Vijayawada Police Commissionerate told The Hindu .
