Will appear before police in ponzi case: Janardhana Reddy
Bengaluru, Nov 10 : Three days after remaining elusive, mining baron G Janardhana Reddy said on Saturday he would appear before the police in connection with an alleged ponzi scam, maintaining that he had not done anything wrong.
In a video message from an unknown location, Reddy said he was not absconding and was very much in the city, asserting that there was no need for him to flee. He also rubbished media reports that he had fled to Hyderabad or some other city.
"I have not committed anything wrong. The police do not have not a single document to prove that I am wrong. They are misleading the media," he claimed in his message telecast by TV channels.
Reddy, who was a minister in the erstwhile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Karnataka, said he never panicked as his name neither figured in the first information (FIR) report, nor was any notice served to him.
"Now that the notice has been issued by the police, I have decided to appear before the Central Crime Branch today itself though the notice says I should appear on Sunday," Reddy said.
"I decided to make this video to let people know the truth. I have faith in the police and believe that they would not succumb to any political pressure," he added.
The Central Crime Branch police had launched a hunt for him since Wednesday in connection with a money transaction worth crores of rupees, allegedly linked to a ponzi scheme.
The CCB was also on the lookout for Reddy's close aide, Ali Khan, who had 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 the Enforcement Directorate investigation.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner T Suneel Kumar had said on Wednesday that Reddy was absconding and the police were looking for him to question him in the case.
Reddy's lawyer, C H Hanumantharaya, who earlier moved a city civil court on Friday seeking anticipatory bail, had told reporters that the minor baron would take a call on Saturday whether to appear before the CCB or not.
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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.
