CCS police expedite probe into Telugu Akademi fraud

Hyderabad: The Central Crime Station (CCS) police have expedited the investigation into the alleged misappropriation of money in Telugu Akademi bank account. The police received three complaints from the officials of Telugu Akademi who stated that about Rs 43 crore was misappropriated from its account in the Union Bank of India of Karwan branch, Santosh Nagar.

An officer from CCS said, "Based on the complaints, a case has been registered and the matter is being investigated. So far, the employees of Union Bank, Canara Bank, Agrasen Bank and RBL Bank are called for questioning as the Akademi has accounts in all these banks." During the preliminary investigation, it was found that, "The amount of Rs 43 crore has been withdrawn from the fixed deposit of Union Bank of Karwan branch. However, bank officials said that the amount was withdrawn by some of the Academy officials in August. Also, we have also found that Rs 10 crore were transferred from Santosh Nagar branch and another Rs 10 crore were transferred from Charminar branch. We are still in the process of investigating the matter and once the investigation is done, the truth will be revealed."

The case so far

The officials of Telugu Akademi recently initiated a process to distribute the funds between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh because of an order from Supreme Court, wherein the court on September 15 ordered that both TS and AP governments should distribute the assets, funds and liabilities of the Akademi amongst themselves. Based on the order of the Apex court, the officers of the Akademi from Telangana began the process of gathering funds from their various bank accounts. While calculating the details of buildings and cash in various banks along with Union Bank of India, Karwan branch in Santosh Nagar, the officials found that there was Rs 43 crore in fixed deposits. The officials then decided to withdraw this amount before the deadline. When the officials tried to withdraw the money from the bank, they were informed that the money would be given to them at the earliest. However, on September 22, when the officials visited the branch again, they were informed by the bank manager Mastan Ali that there was no money in the account. The Akademi director Somireddy then lodged a complaint with the police.

The Telugu Akademi was placed in the list of common institutions that belonged to both AP and TS after the bifurcation of the State in 2014. The assets, liabilities and funds of the Akademi should be distributed between AP and TS in the ratio of 52:48 with 52 per cent for AP and 48 per cent for TS in proportion to the ratio of the population of TS and AP. However, the TS government blocked sharing of assets, liabilities and funds for the last seven years. With this, the Andhra Pradesh government filed a case in the Supreme Court which recently on September 15 directed both the governments to distribute the assets, liabilities and funds among themselves. When the officials of the Akademi began the withdrawal process, the fraud was unearthed.