Vijayawada: Cops seize Rs 1.36 crore from six accused

Vijayawada: Vijayawada police on Tuesday recovered Rs 1.36 crore in cash by arresting six persons who robbed the money from on Abhinava Reddy of Hyderabad who is an exporter of dry chilli.

Police suspects that the stolen money could be part of a hawala or money laundering racket.

Producing the six accused and the recovered cash before the media on Tuesday, Vijayawada police commissioner Ch. Dwaraka Tirumala Rao appreciated the cops who nabbed the accused.

Briefing the media on the case, Mr Tirumala rao said that Abhinava Reddy’s assistant Vasupalli Nagaraju of Visakhapatnam, Reddypalli Kishore alias Nani of Rajahmundry, Vasupalli Dasu of Visakhapatnam, P. Bhavani Sankar and Ch. Harsha Vardhan of Mylavaram, along with a and 17-year-old juvenile, hatched the conspiracy and robbed Rs 1.7 crore from the chilli exporter by posing as cops on March 22, in Vijayawada.

Abhinav Reddy lodged a complaint with the Vijayawada police that the cash belonging to his company was robbed by the gang while transporting it to Hyderabad from Vijayawada.

Vijayawada police started the investigation and the needle of suspicion turned towards Nagaraju, who was working for Abhinava Reddy and Nagaraju’s friend Nani.

The police questioned Nagaraju and his friends and busted the conspiracy.

The police also found that there were no valid documents pertaining to the money. The police then informed the Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate about the money.

Mr Tirumala Rao said, “The police did not get proper documents or details of the cash from Abinava Reddy. We suspect that it may be hawala money or money laundering transactions. Things will become clear in further investigation.”

He also informed that another accused Ravindra was absconding and the police has launched a manhunt nab him.