For the first time, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has focussed its attention on the red sanders accused in Chittoor district. A team of officials of the ED from Bengaluru met the police authorities in Chittoor a couple of days ago and took details of five accused, all of whom are facing charges under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act.
Speaking to The Hindu on Sunday, Additional Superintendent of Police (Red Sanders Operations) V. Ratna confirmed the meeting and said that the ED officials took the media reports on the red sanders accused into cognizance and sought the Chittoor police to furnish details of those who come under their ambit.
Responding to the ED request, Chittoor Superintendent of Police Ghattamaneni Srinivas provided the team with details of five accused under the PD Act.
The five are: Selvaraj (51) of Alwarpet in Chennai; Vijayananda Reddy of Gangadhara Nellore constituency of Chittoor district; Sunil Vikram Mehandi of Delhi; K. Venkatesh of Chennai; and Riyaz Khan of Bengaluru.
Selvaraj started his contraband trade with sandalwood (Sri Gandham), clandestinely smuggling the logs to various South East Asian countries for a decade from 1993.
Later, he procured export licence for the trade. In 2002, the Gudipala police near Chittoor booked a criminal case on Selvaraj under sections dealing with abduction and extortion.
He went underground and took up smuggling of red sanders logs with his previous contacts using sea ports. A month ago, he was arrested by the Gudipala police while he was trying to move into Chittoor district. His assets in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in the country were estimated to be worth over Rs. 200 crore. Vijayananda Reddy of Chittoor district, a YSR Congress leader, was said to have entered into the smuggling of red sanders a decade ago. A few months ago, a case registered under the PD Act against him was dismissed due to technical reasons though the Chittoor police renewed their efforts to bring him under the PD Act. Reddy is facing allegations that he had spent huge amounts to financially support YSRC candidates in Chittoor district in 2014 elections.
