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Agri Gold case transferred to CID
The State government has transferred the investigation into alleged irregularities in the Agri Gold Company to the Crime Investigation Department (CID). This followed police conducting raids on the company’s office in Nellore and its chairman’s house in Vijayawada on Sunday.
Vijayawada/Nellore/Eluru: The State government has transferred the investigation into alleged irregularities in the Agri Gold Company to the Crime Investigation Department (CID). This followed police conducting raids on the company’s office in Nellore and its chairman’s house in Vijayawada on Sunday.
Sources in Vijayawada said the searches in the house of company’s chairman were carried out by the West Godavari police on the orders of Superintendent of Police Dr K Raghuram Reddy. The police acted on the complaint filed by a customer in the Agri Gold Company at Pedapadu police station, the source said. Meanwhile, depositors in the company staged agitation in front of Agri Gold offices in Vijayawada, Atmakuru in Nellore district, Dharmavaram in Anantapur district, Ongole in Prakasam district and Srikakulam.
The police in Nellore, during the raid on the company’s office on Sunday, seized records. The West Godavari police too seized some records and documents during the raid on the chairman’s house in Vijayawada. In Kavali in Nellore district, company’s branch manager fled when agitators attacked the Agri Gold office. The depositors stayed put in front of the branch office, demanding refund of their deposits with interest.
Nellore police said the company through the network of five branches had carried out financial transactions between Rs 900 and Rs 1000 crore in the district alone. It also mobilised deposits from people, the police said. Attention has now been focussed on the role of a section of agents as far as mobilisation of deposits is concerned. The police plunged into action following numerous complaints by depositors that their money deposited in the company had not been refunded even after maturity date.
Tension built in Vijayawada as media persons covering the protests staged by depositors at Agri Gold office here were attacked. Unidentified persons even smashed cameras of videographers belonging to electronic channels. Machavaram police instead of taking action against attackers took the media personnel into custody.
The police sought to cover up their highhandedness by saying that the media persons were merely brought to the police station to protect them from attack. However, the journalists demanded that Inspector of Police Jaganmohan Rao be supended. Local MP Kesineni Srinivas, Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, MLA Gadde Rammohan, CPI-M city secretary Ch Babu Rao and other TDP leaders expressed solidarity with media.
Police Commissioner A B Venkateswara Rao, DCP G V G Ashok Kumar and ACP Lavanya Lakshmi promised to take action against those who attacked the media persons. The media threatened to stage a protest at the Chief Minister's programme scheduled to be held on Wednesday.
