Former director of Telugu Akademi Somi Reddy and two others were questioned by the Central Crime Station police, Hyderabad, on Sunday in connection with the alleged financial fraud in the Akademi’s fixed deposits.
Apart from Mr. Reddy, Akademi’s accounts officer Ramesh, outsources employee Rafeeq, and a few others were also grilled by the investigators for over three hours. Sources said that the former director informed the police that he was not aware of the fraud.
The CCS police asked the ‘suspects’ to surrender the digital video recorder (DVR) of CCTV cameras of the Akademi. However, they told police that the DVR was already submitted to the three-member probe committee constituted by the State government.
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Meanwhile, one A. Rajkumar, who created fake and submitted forged FD bonds, ID cards and other documents was reportedly taken into custody by the police.
“The entire fraud is of over ₹64 crore. The accused, including bank staff, liquidated the fixed deposits of the Akademi by submitting forged FD bonds and siphoned off the money,” the police said.
Based on the complaints lodged by Mr. Reddy, who is reportedly considered to be one of the suspects now, the police registered three cases under Sections 409, 419, 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code and so far arrested four persons, including the chairman and managing director of AP Mercantile Cooperative Credit Society Ltd., and chief manager of Union Bank of India, Mastanvali Saheb.
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More arrests in connection with the case are likely to happen on Monday and Tuesday.