Hyderabad, Dec 27 (IANS) A city court Thursday sent to judicial custody Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) member K. Ripunjaya Reddy, arrested in a disproportionate assets case.
The court dealing with Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) cases remanded him to judicial custody till Jan 9. He was shifted to Cherlapally Jail.
Following his arrest by ACB, Ripunjaya Reddy sent his resignation to state Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan. Alleging that Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy is targeting him, he told reporters that even the properties of his relatives were shown as his properties.
The ACB Wednesday night arrested Ripunjaya Reddy after raids on his house and that of his friends and relatives led to unearthing of disproportionate assets worth Rs.4 crore, officials.
The arrest of the APPSC member followed day-long raids on his residence and that of his close friend K.Suryanarayana Reddy alias Sureedu, and relatives, officials said.
Both Ripunajaya Reddy and Sureedu were close aides of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy alias YSR. Ripunjaya Reddy was YSR’s personal assistant from 2004 to 2008. He was appointed APPSC member, a constitutional post, in 2008.
Sureedu served as YSR’s personal aide till the latter’s death in a helicopter crash in 2009.
The raids on Sureedu’s house were conducted on the suspicion that Ripunjaya owns assets in the name of his close friend. Sureedu, considered YSR’s ‘Man Friday,’ was away in Kadapa at the time of the raids. The ACB has not ruled out questioning him in the case.
The ACB launched a crackdown on the APPSC member after allegations that he amassed illegal assets worth over Rs.100 crore.
ACB officials said the raids yielded unearthing of assets worth Rs.4 crore in the name of Ripunjaya and his family members. They include 63 ‘tolas’ of gold, two cars, houses, apartments and lands in and around Hyderabad, Tirupati, Kadapa and other places.
Sureedu initially turned a witness against YSR’s son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in an illegal assets case but later refused to record his statement before a magistrate.
