Ballari’s mining baron and former Karnataka minister G Janardhan Reddy appeared for questioning at the crime branch office of the Bengaluru police on Saturday evening in connection with an alleged bribery case.
The crime branch had issued a notice asking Reddy to appear before it on Sunday for an investigation into bribery charges.
Earlier, in a video message, Reddy said that he was not on the run and had “not committed any wrong”.
Reddy said, “now that the notice has been issued by the police, I have decided to appear before the Central Crime Branch today itself though the notice says I should appear on Sunday.”
“I decided to make this video to let people know the truth. I have faith in the police and believe that they would not succumb to any political pressure,” Reddy added.
According to police, Janardhan Reddy is wanted by the Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru Police in connection with a Rs. 18 crore bribery case.
The Ambident Group has been accused of duping hundreds of investors and has a Rs. 600-crore fraud case against it.
The owner of a private enterprise, the Ambident Group, has alleged that Janardhan Reddy had demanded Rs. 18 crore from him, promising to help in settling ED cases.
While the probe was going on, the officials came across a particular transaction of Rs 18 crore. Upon investigation it was found that the owner of Ambidant paid Rs. 18 crore to Ramesh Kothari, who runs a bullion business in Bengaluru, Kothari gave it to jeweller to convert it into 57 kg of gold. The gold was handed over to Reddy’s assistant Ali Khan.
