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Do not arrest Perni Nani till Monday: Andhra HC to police in PDS rice scam case
Police included Nani as an accused in the case related to missing of 378 metric tonnes of PDS rice from JS Warehouse built by him in the name of his wife Jayasudha
The Andhra Pradesh high court on Tuesday granted temporary relief to senior YSR Congress Party leader and former minister Perni Venkataramaiah alias Perni Nani from being arrested in case related to missing of rice meant for public distribution system (PDS) from a godown in Machilipatnam, people familiar with the matter said.
Acting on a lunch motion petition filed by Nani seeking anticipatory bail, the high court directed police not to take any hasty action against Nani until January 6, when the next hearing is scheduled.
The Machilipatnam police included Nani as the sixth accused (A-6) in the case related to missing of 378 metric tonnes of PDS rice from JS Warehouse built by him in the name of his wife Jayasudha at Potlapalem in Bandar mandal (block) and leased out to the state civil supplies department.
While Jayasudha, who was named as A-1 in the case, was granted anticipatory bail by a Machilipatnam court on Monday morning, four others, warehouse manager Bethapudi Manasa Teja, civil supplies department assistant manager Ch Kotireddy, rice mill owner Borra Anjaneyulu, and lorry driver Botla Naga Manga Rao, were remanded in 12-day judicial custody and shifted to Machilipatnam sub jail.
“The cases were filed against the accused under Sections 316 (3) (criminal breach of trust by a warehouse keeper), 316 (5) (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 61 (2) r/w 3 (5) (criminal conspiracy) of Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS), 2023,” people familiar with the matter said quoting the remand report submitted by police to the Machilipatnam court.
Police said that during the annual inspections conducted on December 4, higher officials from the civil supplies department discovered a significant discrepancy between the stored rice and the official records.
“Investigations revealed that there was a shortage of 378 metric tonnes of rice in the godown. When questioned, Perni Nani initially claimed that the weighbridge was malfunctioning,” police said.
An official privy to the development said that after the department issued notices to Jayasudha, she admitted that there was a shortage of PDS rice in the godown and paid ₹1.79 crore to address the rice shortage. On Monday, district authorities issued additional notices to Jayasudha, demanding payment of an extra ₹1.67 crore.
