Allegation of receiving 57kg gold; Police on look out for 'absconding' Janardhan Reddy
Bengaluru, Nov 7: Ballari-based mining baron and former Karnataka minister G Janardhana Reddy was absconding as police were on the lookout for him in connection with a money transaction worth crores of rupees allegedly linked to a ponzi scheme, top officials said Wednesday.
The Central Crime Branch police here is also hunting for Reddy's close aide Ali Khan, who allegedly struck a Rs 20 crore deal with Syed Ahmed Fareed of Ambidant Marketing pvt Ltd, a company accused of involvement in the ponzi scheme, to bail him out from Enforcement Directorate investigation.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar said Reddy was absconding and police were looking for him to question him in connection with the case.
"Based on the information gathered the investigation is going on further...CCB is after Ali Khan and Janardhan Reddy," he told reporters here.
CCB sleuths conducted a search at Reddy's Bengaluru residence and seized some documents, Deputy Commissioner of Police Girish S said.
He also said teams of CCB had gone to various places, but declined to divulge more details.
The development comes a day after Reddy's close confidant Sriramulu's sister J Shantha, a BJP candidate, lost in the by-polls from Ballari Lok Sabha constituency, considered a strong hold of the Reddy brothers.
The Congress won the seat breaking BJP's grip over Ballari since 2004.
However, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar said there was no political connection to the probe.
He said his team had been working on the case for the last 20 days, but waited till November 3 for the bypolls to be over for further action, so that it was not politicised.
Reddy, a Minister during the previous BJP rule, had been arrested by the CBI in 2011 over alleged multi-crore illegal mining scam and granted bail three years later.
Reacting to the latest development, Sriramulu claimed he did not have any information about the case and whereabouts of Reddy, but added and no one was above law.
"I don't have complete information...I have been saying no one is above law. Let law take its own course," he said.
Asked whether Reddy was an accused or a suspect, the police commissioner said, Fareed's claim is that he paid the money, because he was promised help by Janardhan Reddy in connection with the ED probe and Reddy will have to respond to these claims.
"We also have to verify whether it is a fact, whether ED has got any cases registered against Fareed... we have to recover the public money that was part of the transaction," he added.
The commissioner, however, clarified that as of now there was no evidence to prove about Reddy bribing any ED official.
He said "we will have to investigate it and will get in touch with ED... We cannot straight away say that ED officials are involved. If there is solid evidence, we will not spare anybody."
Detailing about the case, police said Fareed set up Ambidant around 2017 promising returns of about 40 to 50 per cent for investment.
Responding to this, thousands of people invested their money into the company, which initially paid good returns, attracting more and more investors.
On the company failing to pay returns as promised, cases were registered against it, officials said, adding that, during January or February ED had also raided it.
They said, meanwhile, Fareed had met Reddy through Ali Khan requesting for help in bailing him out of ED the case, and Rs 20 crore was demanded in the form of gold through a jeweller known to them in Ballari.
Explaining about the investigation, the Commissioner said, during investigation CCB found a particular transaction of Rs 18 crore being paid by Ambidant to one Ramesh Kothari, who runs Ambika Jewellers in Bengaluru.
Kothari on questioning said he had given 57 kg of gold to a jeweller named Ramesh, who runs Raj Mahal Fancy Jewellers in Ballari.
Ramesh had claimed that the gold was handed over to Reddy's associate Ali Khan, he said.
He said there was no arrest warrant against Reddy, adding that CCB officials have conducted searches at a few places in Bengaluru and Ballari in connection with the case.
On reports about Reddy and associates trying to get anticipatory bail in Hyderabad, he said, he got to know about it only through the media.
Police said they have photographs of some meetings to prove Reddy's direct link to this case, about which they will seek clarification from him during investigation.
Reddy would soon be issued summons in the course of investigation.
Police said they have arrested Ramesh and gathered several 'crucial' documents from him.
Fareed was also arrested, but currently out on bail.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
