Vijayawada: Senior YSR Congress Party leader and former Andhra Pradesh minister Perni Venkataramaiah alias Perni Nani’s wife Jayasudha on Wednesday appeared before police in connection with a case related to rice meant for the public distribution system (PDS) going missing from a warehouse in Machilipatnam.
In response to the notice issued by police, Jayasudha, who is the prime accused in the case, appeared before police at Bandar Taluka Police Station in Krishna district for questioning.
The police did not allow Jayasudha’s lawyer during the questioning.
Circle Inspector Yesubabu was questioning her.
Jayasudha reached the police station in the car of Machilipatnam Mayor Venkateswaramma, who belongs to the YSR Congress Party.
Jayasudha was granted anticipatory bail by a Machilipatnam court on Monday. However, the judge had directed her to cooperate in the investigation.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Tuesday directed police not to arrest Perni Nani until the next hearing on January 6. The Machilipatnam police listed Nani as the sixth accused (A-6) in the case, which relates to 378 metric tonnes of PDS rice going missing from a warehouse owned by Jayasudha at Potlapalem in Bandar mandal (block).
The warehouse was leased to the state Civil Supplies department, whose officials during a recent inspection found 7,577 bags of PDS rice stored in the warehouse missing.
The police had booked the case under Sections 316 (3) (criminal breach of trust by a warehouse keeper), 316 (5) (criminal breach of trust by a public servant), 61 (2) r/w 3 (5) (criminal conspiracy) of Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS), 2023.
Four accused in the case were arrested and sent to judicial custody for 12 days. They are warehouse manager Bethapudi Manasa Teja, Civil Supplies Department assistant manager Ch Kotireddy, rice mill owner Borra Anjaneyulu, and lorry driver Botla Naga Manga Rao.
(IANS)
