Former Karna minister Janardhana Reddy arrested, sent to judicial remand in Ponzi scam case

Mining baron and former Karnataka minister G Janardhana Reddy was arrested here Sunday after marathon questioning by police in connection with a multi-crore Ponzi scam case, a top police official said.

Reddy, whose whereabouts were not known and remained incommunicado since Wednesday till he appeared at the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police office Saturday, was arrested after the intense questioning ended Sunday morning, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar told reporters.

Later, he was produced before the 6th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court which remanded him to judicial custody till November 24.

The CCB had been on the look out for Reddy, who was declared absconding by police last week in connection with a transaction worth crores of rupees allegedly linked to the ponzi scheme fraud involving hundreds of crores of Rupees.

The intense grilling which began Friday afternoon lasted till around 2 am and continued this morning and Reddy had to sleep in the CCB office, police said.

Before being produced in the court, Reddy was subjected to a medical examination.

Reddy, who was allegedly on the run, had turned up before police along with his advocates Saturday evening after making a dramatic appearance in a video, saying he was not absconding and would present himself before police.

He has claimed the allegations against him were part of a "political conspiracy".

While it was earlier stated the CCB also detained Reddy's close aide, Ali Khan, in the case, the ACP later said since Khan had obtained bail from the sessions court, police faced a technical problem in effecting his arrest as of now.

The CCB was on the lookout for Khan, who had allegedly struck a Rs 20-crore deal with Syed Ahmed Fareed of Ambidant Marketing Pvt Ltd, a company accused of involvement in the ponzi scheme, to bail him (Fareed) out from the Enforcement Directorate investigation.

During investigation, Fareed who is on bail, had claimed he had paid the money so as to get help from Reddy in connection with ED probe.

Reddy Saturday denied the allegations against him as a "political conspiracy."