Anti-corruption officer transferred after taking on liquor mafia in Andhra

April 6, 2012
plcHyderabad, April 6: K Srinivas Reddy has a sterling reputation in Andhra Pradesh as an upright police officer. Till Tuesday night, he was heading a special investigation team in the state's Anti-Corruption Bureau. For the last few months, the team had focused on exposing a brazen liquor syndicate that had gained power across the state thanks to patrons that include police officers and politicians.

Srinivas Reddy has been moved to the coastal security wing. The official reason cited is that he has been promoted. His batch-mate Shivdhar Reddy, was announced as his replacement.


Sources state that Srinivas Reddy's boss, Bhoopathi Babu, who heads the Anti-Corruption Bureau fought hard against the transfer. When it was clear his campaign was futile, he asked that Srinivas Reddy not be moved at least till April 16, when the Andhra Pradesh High Court will hold its next hearing on a Public Interest Litigation that seeks to unravel the inner workings of the liquor mafia.

Notices in the case had been issued to the chief minister Krishna Kumar Reddy, fellow Congressman Botsa Satyanarayana, excise minister Mopidevi Venkatramana and the leader of the opposition Telugu Desam Party, Chandrababu Naidu.

But Srinivasa Reddy's transfer may be due to the new political rapprochement arranged between the chief minister and Mr Satyanarayana, who were summoned to Delhi by their party recently and told to end their bickering.

Mr Satyanarayana has not fared well in the anti-corruption bureau's investigation. He recently admitted that 31 liquor outlets in his home district of Vizianagaram were owned by his relatives. In the same district, between September 2010 and December 2011, excise officials are said to have received bribes of upto Rs. 3.58 crores.

The crackdown and raids on liquor outlets, excise officials and others over the last few weeks has put the focus on several ministers and many more law-makers or MLAs, both in the ruling party and outside, who are said to be linked to the liquor syndicate in the state.

Mr Satyanarayana said he was willing to surrender the licences and that his family members would not participate in future auctions for liquor licenses.

In February, excise minister Mopidevi Venkatramana was accused of having accepted a bribe from a liquor syndicate representative. That led to demands for his resignation.

Investigations have revealed that several politicians and police officers were being regularly paid 'protection money' which they in turn invested in the liquor business. As the mafia and those who assisted it racked up profits, the government incurred huge losses. Liquor was being sold in the black market, at prices far above the maximum rates permitted, and without any duty being paid to the government.

Earlier this week, the Anti Corruption Bureau arrested a pointsman in the liquor syndicate. Balaraj Goud, who was absconding since January after his alleged involvement in a bribery case, was caught on his way to Kolkata. Mr Goud, according to investigators, has worked his way up the mafia ladder to emerge as a sort of a liquor don. He allegedly owns seven bars and restaurants and 28 wine shops in and around Hyderabad. Mr Goud is said to have confessed that 75 per cent of the liquor in Andhra Pradesh is sold without the government receiving due taxes.


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Agencies
January 14,2020

Farukkhabad, Jan 14: In a shocking incident, a new-born baby was mauled to death by a dog inside the operation theatre (OT) of a private hospital in Farukkhabad on Monday.

Family members of the baby boy said that they noticed the hospital staff shooing a dog away from inside the operation theatre and soon after, they were told the baby boy, born just two hours ago, was dead.

The family members said that they found the baby's body on the floor and it had deep gashes around the neck and other parts of the body.

District magistrate Manvendra Singh has ordered an FIR and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Chandra Shekhar said the hospital has been sealed and an inquiry ordered into the incident.

Sources said that the hospital where the incident took place was unregistered and was being run adjacent to a government hospital.

According to the FIR lodged with Sadar Kotwali police, the infant's father Ravi Kumar said he had admitted his wife Kanchan in the hospital on Monday and she was taken for a C-section to the operation theatre.

After the delivery, Kanchan was shifted to the ward but the family was told that the baby would be shifted later.

An hour later, the family was informed that the baby had died.

The family members then saw the hospital staff trying to chase a dog out of the operation theatre.

The family members forced their way into the operation theatre and found the infant lying on the floor with several injuries on the neck.

The police said that the baby's body has been preserved for examination and post mortem.

The FIR has been registered against Dr Mohit Gupta, and some of the staff members who were present during the delivery.

The hospital owner, Vijay Patel, however, feigned complete ignorance about the incident and said that he had been told that the baby was born dead.

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Agencies
May 25,2020

Hyderabad, May 25: Indicating foul play in the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were fished out from a well near Warangal, a forensic expert on Sunday virtually ruled out suicide theory, saying it appeared seven of them had been dragged and thrown into the water body.

Mystery shrouded the death of nine people, including six of a family, whose bodies were found in a well, five of them on Friday and four on Thursday, on the outskirts of Warangal in Telangana.

Police stepped up the probe and forensic analysis was also underway in the case.

The forensic expert, who visited the crime scene as part of the investigation citing preliminary tests, said that the seven of nine people had scratch injuries and appeared to have been "dragged" and "thrown" into the well.

Forensic reports are expected in 10 days, the forensic expert told media on Sunday adding after examining the crime scene it appears that the deaths were not suicides.

"We have preserved all organs and the same were sent to forensic science laboratory (FSL) for examination... some two or three persons might have been involved in the crime. There are scratch injuries on the bodies," he said.

"It appears that they were thrown into the water... There were no injuries on the child's body. We are awaiting the forensic report (to ascertain) whether they were poisoned. It didn't appear as if they committed suicide," the expert, who performed the post-mortem said.

Police sources said at least two people were picked up for questioning.

Bodies of the head of the family, wife, daughter and three-year old grandson were found floating and fished out on Thursday.

On Friday morning, some bodies were seen floating following which police pumped out the water from the well and found others.

The 48-year old man had migrated from West Bengal over 20 years ago and had settled down here. His family had been staying in two rooms on the premises of the unit, police had earlier said.

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News Network
July 12,2020

Tamil Nadu, Jul 12: An alleged attempt by a 19-year-old man to "open a branch of the State Bank of India" at Panruti near Tamil Nadu was scuttled and he was arrested for forgery, police said on Saturday.

The man, son of retired SBI employees, had readied fake seals and challans of the public sector lender, and had other paraphernalia like a cash counting machine needed "to run a bank branch," on an upper floor of his residence at Panruti, about 25 km from Tamil Nadu.

He had not, however, put up any signboard. The SBI Panruti branch manager lodged a complaint with police seeking action following a tip-off by a customer that the man was "opening an SBI branch and has challans as well."

A printer who printed the challans and another who had made fake seals were held for similar offences and abetment.

They were produced before a magistrate court and enlarged on bail.

Asked if the man had cheated people by soliciting deposits or facilitating loans, Panruti police inspector K Ambethkar said, "no..we have not received any such complaint so far."

The man's late father had worked for SBI and his mother had retired from the same bank some time back, he said.

To a question, the police inspector said the man's mother, who has mobility issues, and another woman a relative living in the same house had no clue about his "idea."

Investigations revealed that he aspired to work for a bank and since he had closely watched banking operations for long he was "very knowledgeable" about it.

On the suspected motive, he said several of his replies were incomprehensible, childish, and strange notwithstanding his excellent understanding of the banking processes.

"He even calmly told us that he awaited approval from Mumbai to open the (SBI) branch and that he was about to put up a signboard," the inspector said, adding that the man had tried unsuccessfully to get employment on compassionate grounds in the SBI following the death of his father in harness.

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