Vijayawada, Dec 31 Andhra Pradesh Police have booked former minister Perni Venkataramaih, also known as Perni Nani, in the case relating to the alleged diversion of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice.
Bandar Taluka Police Station in Krishna district included the YSR Congress Party leader as the sixth accused in the case.
The former minister is likely to be arrested in the case, in which his wife Jayasudha is the prime accused.
While Jayasudha has already been granted anticipatory bail by a local court, the police arrested four other accused. The second accused Manasa Teja, the manager of Nani, Civil Supplies Department Assistant Manager Koti Reddy, rice miller Borra Anjaneyulu and lorry driver Mangarao were all arrested.
The four accused were produced before the Machilipatnam Special Mobile Judge late Monday night. The court remanded them to judicial custody for 12 days. The accused were subsequently shifted to Machilipatnam Sub-Jail.
The case was registered in connection with the missing PDS rice from a buffer warehouse owned by Jayasudha.
An official of the Civil Supplies Department had complained to the police about alleged irregularities in the storage of 248 tonnes of ration rice.
The warehouse in Potlapalem village was registered in his wife’s name and was later rented to the Civil Supplies Department as a buffer godown. The facility was under the supervision of Perni Nani and his son Krishna Murthy alias Kittu,
During a recent inspection, authorities discovered that 7,577 bags of PDS rice stored in the warehouse were missing. Summons were issued to Jayasudha, Nani and Krishna Murthy. However, they failed to appear before investigating officials. Jayasudha later approached a court, which granted her anticipatory bail.
Perni Nani was added to the list of the accused after police gathered evidence against him during questioning of the four arrested accused.
There are allegations of financial transactions among the accused. The police gathered evidence of payments through PhonePay and online transactions.
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