Ready for any probe, says AP Minister on court theft case

Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy on Tuesday said he was ready for any probe into the theft of crucial material evidence in a criminal case filed against him and claimed he had nothing to do with it.

As opposition parties stepped up their attack on the new minister, Kakani addressed the media in his hometown Nellore and dared the former to get the case investigated by the CBI or even the High Court.

“I have no connection whatsoever with the court theft case. I am ready for any probe into it,” the minister said.

On the intervening night of Wednesday\Thursday, thieves broke into the court of fourth additional judicial magistrate of first class in Nellore and made good their escape with a bag containing laptop, mobile phones and several documents related to a criminal case of 2016 filed against Govardhan Reddy and three others by the then Agriculture Minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy of the TDP.

The bag was later found dumped in a culvert but with the crucial documents and other material evidence missing.

SPS Nellore district Superintendent of Police Ch Vijaya Rao said two persons were arrested in connection with the theft and claimed they were habitual offenders who stole scrap iron.

The SP’s claim did not cut ice with the opposition parties, which insisted on a CBI probe or a judicial inquiry led by a sitting judge of the High Court.

The opposition TDP, BJP, CPI, and Congress pointed an accusing finger at Kakani in the theft case as the criminal case against him was set for trial next month.

Lawyers in Nellore too have been demanding a CBI investigation into the theft case.