Boat Club mired in Rs 5.8cr scam

Hyderabad: The management of the Hyderabad Boat Club, located near Hussainsagar Lake, is allegedly involved in financial embezzlement of Rs 5.89 crore of the club’s funds

Following a complaint filed by a club member, R.V. Krishnam Raju, a local court ordered the city police to book a case against the management.

The Saifabad police has booked a case against the club secretary, president, treasurer, auditor and five other key members, for criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust, and falsification of accounts among other charges.

The club’s management maintains that the allegations are false and baseless. Club secretary  Amarender Reddy said  “Earlier also there were false allegations against the club, which were later proved wrong. We will fight this case also.”

Mr Reddy and the club’s president  Ch Sudhakar Rao, a former MLC of the Telugu Desam,  and seven others have been named in the FIR filed by the police.

The complainant alleged that the club management  misappropriated the annual financial reports with false auditing and diverted more than Rs 5 crore for their personal use. The management had constructed three buildings at a cost around '2.4 crore, of which, more than '1.36 crore was misused.

An independent audit by a government certified valuator had shown the difference between actual cost of the building construction and the alleged bogus accounts shown in the club’s annual report of 2011-12, the complainant alleged.

The club management also collected different charges from visitors and members at the time of New Year celebrations which were not shown in the annual report of the club.

The management also diverted crores of rupees from the revenue collected through the sale of liquor, cold drinks and playing cards, Mr. Raju alleged.

Saifabad SI Venkata Narayana said, “An FIR has been issued against the key members following the court order. We have started a probe.”