New Delhi: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth crores. Tadipatri Municipality Chairman and former Telugu Desam Party MLA J.C. Prabhakar Reddy and his close aide C. Gopal Reddy have been fined Rs 22 crore in a case related to the alleged BS-IV vehicle scam.
Jatadhara Industries Pvt, “controlled” by Reddy and C Gopal Reddy (allegedly a close associate of Reddy and a civil contractor at Tadipatri) and others purchased BS-III vehicles from Ashok Leyland Ltd in “violation” of the apex court order. The federal agency alleged that they were given exemption by making copies of fake invoices and fraudulently registered them as BS-IV vehicles. The agency said it was also probing the role of the automaker in the case.
In March 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that vehicles not conforming to BS-IV emission norms should not be sold in India by any manufacturer or dealer from April 1, 2017. Registration of such vehicles was also banned from the same date, the Enforcement Directorate said in a statement.
Investigation found that some registrations were done in Nagaland, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
The ED has collected evidence in the form of fake challans from RTO officials in Nagaland and original challans issued by Ashok Leyland for some vehicles and confirmed the offence.
“Proceeds of crime arising out of owning/driving and/or selling these vehicles have been determined as 38.36 crore,” it said.
As a result of the investigation, movable assets worth Rs. 68 immovable properties along with bank balance, cash, jewelery and receivables to the extent of Rs 6.31 crore. Rs 15.79 crore belonging to JC Prabhakar Reddy and his family members and C Gopal Reddy and his family members have been attached.
“Further investigation is on including the role of Ashok Leyland in the entire scam,” the ED said.
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