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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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
