The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has demanded that Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy should be removed from the Cabinet of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, pending a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the theft that took place in the IV Additional Judicial First-Class Magistrate (AJFCM) court in Nellore in April this year.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has recently assigned the probe into the theft of material relating to a defamation case filed by TDP leader Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy against the Agriculture Minister for accusing him of amassing wealth through dubious means, to the CBI.
Addressing the media on November 27 (Sunday), TDP spokesman Anam Venkataramana Reddy pressed for putting Nellore Superintendent of Police Ch. Vijaya Rao in vacancy reserve by the Director General of Police (DGP). ‘‘These steps are neccesary to facilitate a fair probe into the case by the CBI,” he asserted.
Describing the theft of material as a ‘conspiracy and drama’, he asked as to how the material that was kept in the police station could be stolen from the district court.
Mr. Venkataramana Reddy said the SP had produced two persons who had reportedly confessed to the crime and recovered a laptop, a tablet and six cellphones and other incriminating documents, as per the FIR.
Dissatisfied with the way the investigation was conducted, Nellore Principal District Judge C. Yamini had written to the Registrar (Vigilance) of the High Court on the ‘lapses and the tardy progress of the investigation’. A letter written by Registrar (Vigilance) of the High Court to its Registrar (Judicial) was taken as a suo motu public interest litigation (PIL) by the High Court which had assigned the Nellore court theft case to the CBI.
He also recalled that the District judge had stated that the fingerprints on the main door and the footprints were not taken, and that the dog squad was not pressed into service. The recovered laptop and tablet did not contain any data regarding the theft.
At this juncture, objections were filed by the lawyers representing Mr. Chandramohan Reddy and the same was verified in the presence of the IVth Additional Judicial Magistrate, he said, adding that the presiding judge had then ordered an internal investigation and reconstruction of the crime records of the stolen property which revealed that as per the records of the district court, the incriminating evidence was in the safe custody of the police station concerned.
