Police continue search for Janardhana Reddy in ponzi case
Bengaluru, Nov 8: Central crime branch sleuths Thursday intensified their search for Ballari-based mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy in connection with a money transaction amounting to crores of rupees allegedly linked to a ponzi scheme.
The crime branch 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 firm accused of involvement in the ponzi scheme, to bail him out of an Enforcement Directorate investigation.
Meanwhile, the Congress in Karnataka too felt the heat as the case came to light.
Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress MLA and former minister Ramalinga Reddy had attended the launch of a mobile application by the company
However, Rao and Ramalinga Reddy denied having any links with the firm.
Police sources said Reddy's father-in-law Parameshwara Reddy was also summoned by crime branch sleuths to get details about the absconding mining baron.
Police questioned Fareed and searched at Reddy's Obulapuram Mining Company.
Ali Khan's residence at Ballari was also searched.
"Nothing. We are all searching for him (Reddy)," Bengaluru police commissioner T Suneel Kumar told PTI.
Fareed, who was arrested earlier, is currently out on bail.
Kumar suspected that those who got bail in this case might have alerted Reddy who eventually went into hiding.
Searches continued at Reddy's residence in Ballari Thursday which started around 6 am and went on till evening, two days after Reddy's confidante Sriramulu's sister J Shantha, a BJP candidate, lost in the bypoll from Ballari Lok Sabha constituency, considered a stronghold of the Reddy brothers.
The Congress won the seat breaking the BJP's grip over Ballari since 2004.
Joint Commissioner of Bengaluru Police Alok Kumar told reporters that police did not arrest Reddy during the bypoll as they did not want to give a political hue to the case.
Ten days ago, Ramesh, the owner of Rajmahal Fancy Jewellers at Ballari was arrested, police said.
"He was in constant touch with Ali Khan. These people (Reddy) knew well that police would reach them if Rajmahal Jewellers is touched," Alok Kumar said.
The police officer said Fareed was summoned and questioned to find out about transactions that took place at various places.
"We wanted to find out about some missing links in the case. We are also interrogating all those whom he had given money," Alok Kumar added.
Searches were conducted in various towns for those absconding in the case, he said, but did not elaborate.
Denying any links with the firm, Congress state president Dinesh Gundu Rao said, "I dont know about the company. They had invited me for the launch of an app.
"I did not know what the programme actually was. Apart from that neither I have any relation with that company nor I have any information about them."
He sought to know whether attending a function made anyone part of the business of the company.
Congress MLA and former minister Ramalinga Reddy too denied having any links with the firm.
"When I was a minister, people used to call me for various events. There was this Ambidant company. I had never heard its name previously. I saw them (proprietors) for the first time. It was something related to mobile phone. Once it was launched I never met them again.
Had I knew that they cheated people, I wouldn't have gone near them," Ramalinga Reddy said.
The Congress MLA said the police have not yet summoned him for questioning but he was ready to face even a CBI probe in this case "as there is nothing to hide or fear."
"I only attended an event. What is there to get trapped for it? Currently CCB is inquiring.. Let the CBI investigate it," he said.
With the CCB launching search operations for Janardhana Reddy, BJP distanced itself from the mining baron, saying he was not associated with the party anymore.
BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa said, "Janardhana Reddy is not associated with the BJP. Other than what I have read in newspapers, I do not have any knowledge about this case. Those who commit wrongs will face consequences as per law."
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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.
