Theft at Nellore court: Documents relating to minister Kakani's forgery case stolen

Nellore: In a mysterious incident, a theft took place at the 4th Additional Judicial Magistrate Court in the Nellore court complex, Andhra Pradesh. A file was stolen relating to a forgery case filed against minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy by former minister Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy.

On Wednesday midnight, unknown persons broke into the court complex and stole documents, four cell phones, and laptops. They took only the documents relating to the minister's case and discarded the bag and other documents outside the court.

This is the first such incident in Andhra Pradesh where evidence and supporting documents relating to a pending case have been stolen. Unfortunately, the lack of CCTV cameras on the court premises is giving the police a tough time. The police, during the investigation, had to check CCTV footage of the nearby areas.

A challenging case

Minister Govardhan Reddy, who did not get a Cabinet post in 2019, was inducted into the Cabinet after a reshuffle this year.

The case has become even more challenging with the rivalry between Mr. Govardhan and Mr. Somireddy since the 2019 elections. Kakani Govardhan Reddy has been in politics for almost 20 years. He won the Sarvepalli MLA seat in the 2014 Assembly elections by 5,744 votes and was re-elected in 2019 to the state Assembly from the same constituency. This time he defeated Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy by a margin of 13,866 votes.

What is the case?

In December 2017, Sarvepally MLA and minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy alleged that former minister Somireddy had properties worth thousands of crores of rupees in foreign countries. He released a few documents to the media, stating they were property documents. Mr. Somireddy filed a complaint at the Nellore rural police station alleging that Mr. Kakani had forged the documents and demanded action against the minister. He even filed a defamation case against the minister in court. Later, it was proved that the documents provided by the minister were fake and a charge sheet was filed against him. While the case is pending in court, the documents related to this case have now been stolen. The police are investigating the case.

PAC chairman urges to file suo moto:

Meanwhile, Payyavula Keshav, the Public Accounts Committee chairman, called for a suo motu case to investigate the theft of documentary evidence from the Nellore court. He said newly-inducted minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy was the prime accused in the forgery case.

Addressing a virtual press conference, the TDP leader said anybody could guess who would benefit from the theft of the documents that were shown as evidence in the charge sheet filed against Mr. Kakani. The judiciary should take a very serious view of this theft, he added.

A case has been registered by Chinna Bazar police under Cr no 112/2022 u/sec, 457, 380 IPC. Nellore district superintendent of police CH Vijaya Rao inspected the spot. He directed the officials to form teams and investigate on the case.