Police told to probe antecedents of AgriGold body office-bearers

The High Court at Hyderabad has directed the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department to conduct a thorough probe into the antecedents of the office-bearers of All India AgriGold Customers and Agents Welfare Association and submit a report by the time of next hearing on February 13.

A division bench comprising Justice V Ramasubramanian and Justice S V Bhatt gave this direction during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Telangana AgriGold Customers and Depositors Welfare Association seeking CBI probe into the Rs 7000 crore AgriGold scam that had affected over 32 lakh depositors across the country.

The bench reacted strongly when it was brought to its notice that one Ranga Reddy, President of All India AgriGold Customers and Agents Welfare Association, was openly collecting money from depositors, citing the High Court proceedings and promising to give them higher returns.

The WhatsApp message being circulated by Reddy along with details of the bank account into which the deposits were to be made was read out in the open court by the Special Government Pleader Sharat Kumar.

The message said the properties were being sold in the auction at very cheap rates. The bench warned that it would amount to contempt of court. It said that it was morally indefensible to collect mony from depositors to repay their own monies that had been swindled by the company.

Earlier, senior counsel and former Advocate General D V Sitaram Murthy, appearing for the All India Association, stated that the Association was prepared to pay Rs 12 crore for the 25 acres Keesara property and submit the remaining 18 crore later after selling the property at higher rates. The bench questioned as to how the Association can distribute profits among members under the law.

The counsel for the petitioner informed the bench that the ongoing court proceedings were being twisted by the office-bearers of the All India Association.

He also submitted to the court the complaints lodged with the CID of both the states by the petitioner seeking inquiry into the antecedents of this Association as they had reason to believe that it was put up by the AgriGold company to derail the ongoing auction proceedings.

The Andhra Pradesh Special Government Pleader Krishna Prakash submitted the proposal for further sub-dividing the Keesara lands, so that it could attract bidders.

The court directed the petitioner and the company to submit their responses to the proposal by the time of next hearing on February 13. In the Akshaya Gold matter, the bench posted the matter to February 6.