J.C. PRABHAKAR, SON HELD FOR VEHICLE SCAM
The Anantapur police arrested former Tadipatri legislator J.C. Prabhakar Reddy and his son J.C. Asmith Reddy who contested as the TD candidate in last year’s general elections from Tadipatri, in connection with illicit conversion of banned vehicles of BS-III emission standards into BS-IV by forging documents.
They sold these vehicles and their family ownedfirms, Jatadhara Industries Pvt Ltd and C. Gopal Reddy & Company of Tadipatri, also plied them. Jatadhara Industries is represented by J.C. Uma Reddy, the wife of Prabhakar Reddy, and Asmith Reddy as directors. Gopal Reddy is a close aide of Prabhakar Reddy, who is the brother of former MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy.
The duo was arrested at Hyderabad early on Saturday and taken to the Anantapur One Town police station based on a pending case lodged by the Anantapur deputy transport commissioner (DTC) in January after eight modified trucks were seized.
At Anantapur, police questioned Prabhakar Reddy and Asmith Reddy for three hours and shifted them to hospital for a medical check-up. They were later duo was produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate court and sent to 14 days in judicial custody.
The arrest comes a day after former TD minister K. Atchannaidu was taken into custody in Srikakulam district for a `150 crore scam in medical purchases.
A total of 24 criminal cases were registered against the two companies based on complaints by the Anantapur DTC. Police said 50 vehicles of BS-III emission standard were sold to Jatadhara Industries as scrap and 104 to C. Gopal Reddy & Co. Of these, 101 were in AP and further transactions were blocked in department database. Another 28 vehicles were taken on a no-objection certificate to other states.
Sixty vehicles were seized in AP — 46 in Anantapur and others in Kadapa, Guntur, Nellore, Kurnool and Chittoor districts. The others are yet to be traced.
As per Supreme Court order, BS-III vehicles were prohibited and their registration banned from April 1 2017. But, Jatadhara Industries and C. Gopal Reddy & Company purchased vehicles sold as scrap by Ashok Leyland and got them registered in Nagaland in 2018 by producing fake and fabricated documents, Anantapur DTC Shivarama Krishna said. These vehicles were plying in Anantapur district after securing a NoC from Nagaland.
An email was sent to Ashok Leyland asking them to provide the details of the 68 vehicles. The company replied on January 23, giving details of 66 vehicles that had been scrapped.
A team of officials of the transport department and the Anantapur police was deputed to the registering authority at Kohima, Nagaland to get documents regarding the registration of the vehicles.
“Documents furnished by the registering authority, Kohima, Nagaland State, state that J.C. Uma Reddy of Tadipatri has signed the application produced before the registering authority on behalf of C. Gopal Reddy & Company seeking registration of the vehicles.
These invoices are said to have been issued by Ashok Leyland Ltd, Kalyanpur, of Uttarakand and Ashok Leyland Ltd, RSO, Hosur, Tamil Nadu,” sources said. “Though they purchased the vehicles as scrap, they tried to make them fit and roadworthy for unlawful gain and for plying vehicles illegally”, transport department officials said.
The plying of vehicles with fake insurance policies endangers public safety and road safety. Criminal cases had to be booked against the two companies for producing fake insurance certificates, the officials said.