Cash trail: Cops summon 2 Sai Trust members for quizzing
The Anantpur police had issued notices to R J Rathnakar and V Srinivasan asking them to appear within three days before the investigating officer probing the money trail. Cash amount of Rs 35.50 lakh was found in a vehicle belonging to the trust at Kodikonda checkpost close to the Karnataka border on June 18.
"We have issued notices to them. Their names came up during interrogation of the three persons who were arrested with the cash. They have three days to appear before the police," said district SP Shahnawaz Qasim.
Sources said the questioning is likely to be conducted in Puttaparthi on Thursday. They would be questioned as part of the investigations into the cash seizure case. Sources said it is for the first time in the history of the trust that any of its members was being summoned by cops in connection with a case.
Srinivasan is the non-executive chairman of Chennai-based WS Industries India Ltd that manufactures porcelain insulators for electrical transmission and distribution. The company has been running in losses for the past two years and for the year ended March 31, 2011, it showed a net loss of Rs 2.6 crore on a turnover of Rs 253 crore.
Srinivasan, who co-founded the company in 1961, is not actively involved with the running of the company, which is now being steered by his son Murali Venkatraman as vice-chairman and managing director.
Police said they would question the two trust members about the sources of the money which was intercepted near Kodikonda while being trasnsported to Bangalore in a Qualis. The police officer said they have told senior trust members to reveal the details of the trust properties to the income tax authorities.
The police have already issued notices to two others -- Venkatesh, Srinivasan's personal assistant, and driver Sadashiv -- to appear before the investigation team in connection with the case.
The three persons, engineers Harish Nanda Shetty, Sohan Shetty and Srinivasan's driver Chandrashekhar alias Shekhar were arrested and sent to judicial remand in connection with the cash seizure.
"We only hope this would lead to the arrests of the big fish and unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of crores worth wealth from Yajur Mandir," said Bhaskar Reddy, a prominent citizen of Puttaparthi.
In what could be the beginning of a deeper probe into the money trail with the summoning of Srinivasan and Rathnakar, sources said Prasanthi Nilayam could witness more searches by police and IT teams in the coming days to unearth the hidden treasures in Yajur Mandir.
Meanwhile, a voluntary organisation under the supervision of social activist Prabhakar has formed a public fact-finding mission to probe the activities of the trust members, happenings in Prasanthi Nilayam and gather public opinion in the aftermath of Sai Baba's death. He said they would grill the trust members at a meeting on June 30.
Cash trail: Cops summon 2 Sai Trust members for quizzing
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