AP orders judicial probe

Vijayawada: The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday ordered a judicial probe by a retired High Court judge into the call money scandal that had rocked the state even as over 100 people allegedly involved in the scam have been arrested. The decision to order the probe was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

The probe was ordered in view of the demand from various quarters following sensational disclosures by some women victims that they were sexually exploited for failing to repay the loans. In another development, the Commissioner of police Gautam Sawang also cancelled his 10 leave following a political storm alleging that he was allowed to go on leave under political pressure.

Briefing reporters on the decisions taken at the meeting, Finance Minister Y Ramakrishnudu said the scam also involved allegations of sex scandal, it was decided to constitute a judicial commission for a thorough probe.

The main Opposition YSR Congress has alleged that many leaders of the ruling Telugu Desam Party were involved in the scandal, which surfaced in Vijayawada and Guntur and is said to be spread across the state. The police has been registering cases on the private money lenders.

In East Godavari district, 15 cases are said to have been registered of which 13 reportedly belong to YSRCP and two are from the TDP. Similarly, nine cases in Guntur, seven in Kadapa, one in Prakasam district and two in Nellore have been booked. It is being said that majority of them are from YSRCP and some are

from TDP. Raids were also conducted in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam. Under the call money arrangement, one can obtain loans by making a phone call to the lender, who comes home with the money and takes the loan seeker's signature on documents.

The interest rate usually ranges from 120 percent to 200 percent. The lender also lays down the condition that he can demand return of the money over a call anytime and anywhere.

In many cases, financiers seized house, vehicles and other movable and immovable properties of the borrowers who failed to pay the loans. The lenders even sexually exploit women. A woman lodged a complaint with police last week that she and her daughter were pushed into the flesh trade.

The call money scandal is estimated to be over Rs 600 crore in Vijayawada alone and about Rs 300 crore in West Godavari district.

Meanwhile, in a state-wide crackdown, police have so far arrested 118 money lenders allegedly involved in the scandal. As many 123 cases were booked against them. Those arrested include leaders of TDP, YSR Congress and Congress.

In Vijayawada alone, 75 people were arrested. Vijayawada Police Commissioner Gautam Sawang said they were taken into custody for examination.

The police said that during raids on the money lenders, promissory notes, property documents, cheques and other documents were seized. In some cases, police found signatures of borrowers on plain promissory notes.

In Visakhapatnam, three women lodged police complaints on Wednesday that money lenders tried to sexually harass and exploit them for not repaying the loans.

A woman said she borrowed Rs 1 lakh for a business and was asked to pay Rs 3,000 as interest per day. As the business ran into losses, she was unable to pay the interest. The money lender called her and threatened to kidnap her children.