Bribe scam: US approaches India for provisional arrest of Andhra politician KVP Ramachandra Rao
Rao named for suspected role in $18.5 mn bribe for titanium mining contract
New Delhi: The US has requested India for "provisional arrest" of Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member K V P Ramachandra Rao after he was indicted by an American court in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy involving bribes of USD 18.5 million for allowing mining of Titanium minerals in Andhra Pradesh.
In a letter sent by National Crime Bureau of the US through Interpol to CBI, the US authorities have said Rao should be put under provisional arrest till all the documents were handed over to India through diplomatic channels, official sources said.
The sources said CBI sent the letter to the Andhra Pradesh Police asking them to take action against Rao, who was a close aide to late Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
The US also informed CBI that Interpol had already been approached for issuance of Red Corner Notice against Rao, who was charged in the US in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy involving bribes worth USD 18.5 million to state and central government officials in India to allow the mining of Titanium minerals in Andhra Pradesh.
A US federal five-count indictment, returned under seal in June 2013 and unsealed in Chicago on April three, charges 65-year-old Rao and five others with one count each of racketeering conspiracy and money laundering and two counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering.
Rao was not immediately available for comments.
Read: Senior politician KVP Ramachandra Rao, Ukrainian tycoon named in $18.5 million mine scam
The CBI, while executing the warrant, will have to produce the defendant before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court (Extradition Court) Patiala in Delhi and once the extradition court gives its nod, he will be taken to the US for trial. The US can even ask for the provisional arrest of the defendant if it feels the urgency.