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Srinivasa Reddy back to Special Investigating Team
ACB probe, K. Srinivasa Reddy, LiquorSyndicates, SIT, Liquor Scam, Special Investigating Team, Mopidevi Venkatramana, Botsa
Srinivasa Reddy was transferred as head of the coastal security wing, with Shivdhar Reddy replacing him. The move had created a furore in the state with the government being accused of trying to disrupt the investigation into the shady nexus between the liquor syndicate and their patrons comprising politicians and the police.
AP High Court on Monday directed the ACB to dig out benamis in the liquor trade. It also directed the state to consider transferring Mr K. Srinivasa Reddy back to the ACB as chief of its Special Investigating Team and to report back to the court on April 27.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar was dealing with a batch of petitions urging the court to monitor the on-going probe into the liquor syndicates and to order a CBI probe into the liquor scam. The bench made it clear that no officer of the ACB, who is associated with the investigation into the liquor scam, shoul be transferred without permission from the court. The court directed the state government to extend resources to, and augment, the ACB as required.
the status report of the probe by the ACB, the bench said that it had noticed a report on the manipulation of records pertaining to auction proceedings, and directed the ACB to extend the probe to identify the benamis in the trade. Expressing dissatisfaction with the state government for granting licences to persons who are below the poverty line, the court directed the ACB to share the fina-ncial details of the liquor shop owners with the Income Tax department.
Earlier, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, APCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana, Excise minister Mopidevi Venkatramana and Telegu Desum Party chief Chandrababu Naidu were sent notices in the case.
Meanwhile, speculations are rife that Reddy’s transfer was an outcome of the truce between the chief minister and Satyanarayana. The APCC?chief had recently admitted that his relatives own 32 liquor outlets in Vizianagaram. Excise officials there have reportedly received bribes up to Rs. 3.58 crore. Despite the setback in Reddy’s transfer, the ACB?has nabbed a key member of the liquor syndicate Balaraj Goud, owner of seven bar and restaurants and 28 wine shops in and around Hyderabad. Goud, who had been on a run since January following his involvement in the bribery case, admitted that the government is duped of taxes for 75 per cent of the liquor sold in the state.
Mon 16 Apr, 2012,9:56:52 PM
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