Janardhana Reddy will soon get bail, but his disquiet won’t end yet

CCB supplicate Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors (KPID) in Financial Establishments ActIt seems even if former minister and mining baron Janardhana Reddy gets a favourable ruling from the court on his bail plea today (Wednesday), the Central Crime Branch (CCB) probing the Ambidant Ponzi scam has declared to invoke the Karnataka Protection of Interest of Depositors (KPID) in Financial Establishments Act against all six accused in the involvement of the case, including Reddy in the coming days.

The legal counsel of Reddy’s man Friday Mehfuz Ali Khan, who is also accused in the case, filed an affidavit before the court ensuring that Khan had borrowed Rs 20 crore from Syed Ahmed Fareed, the owner of Ambidant Marketing Private Limited and would be returning it with ‘gratitude’.

Ambidant has come under the scanner for going on with a multi-crore Ponzi scam and Reddy was accused of accepting Rs 20 crore through Ali Khan and a couple of jewellers to allegedly thwart an ED probe against Fareed’s firm.

“The investigation is progressing. We are collecting more evidence about the financial transaction. We have decided to invoke the KPID Act against all six persons accused in the case. Reddy is the sixth accused in the case,” said Alok Kumar, Additional Commissioner (crime), Bengaluru City Police.The CCB officials claimed that proceedings were being initiated to ensure that once Ali Khan makes the repayment, the amount is redistributed among the deceived investors at the earliest under legal supervision. As of now, the investigators have collated a list as per which it has been ascertained that the Ambidant Ponzi scam could be worth at least Rs 120 crore.

“More people are coming forward with complaints and the total scope is expected to increase in the coming days,” said sources.

The CCB claims that Reddy knows of Ambidant group and the allegations of financial fraud against it when the alleged transfer of Rs 20 crore happened through Ali Khan. It is being reported that an RTGS transaction of Rs 18 crore was made to Ramesh, a Ballari-based jeweller who converted it into gold and directed it to reach Reddy’s beneficiaries in Ballari.As of now, CCB has booked Ambidant owner Syed Ahmed Fareed as the first accused, followed by his son Syed Afaq Ahmed and their associate Irfan as the second and third accused. Ramesh, a jeweller from Ballari and Ali Khan have been booked as the fourth and fifth accused in the case. Reddy is the sixth accused and has been booked for cheating and criminal conspiracy.