Notes seizure: CBI court rejects bail pleas of Shekar Reddy, associates

Chennai: A CBI court here on Friday dismissed the bail petitions of sand mining baron J Shekar Reddy and four others who were arrested in connection with an alleged seizure of over Rs 170 crore, including new currency notes, from their premises.

The order was passed by Special Judge for CBI cases Vijayalakshmi.

The judge also dismissed a petition filed by CBI seeking their custody for interrogation. The five are in judicial custody.

The court had on December 27 reserved its orders on the bail petitions.

Reddy and his associates were arrested by CBI on December 21 following the "seizure" of 127 kg gold and over Rs 170 crore in cash, including new currency notes, from their premises by the Income-Tax department in coordinated searches.

The five have been accused of converting the unaccounted cash held by them in old currency notes to new notes with the help of unknown public servants of different banks within 24 days from the date of demonetisation on November 8.

Cases have been registered against them for various offences under IPC including criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy and under Sections 13(1) and (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).