In a partial relief to media baron Ch Ramoji Rao and his daughter-in-law Sailaja Kiran, the Andhra Pradesh high court on Wednesday granted a stay on the probe initiated by the Crime Investigation Department of the state police on the latest Margadarsi share transfer case.
Acting on a quash petition filed by the Margadarsi group challenging the CID case based on a complaint lodged by a shareholder Yuri Reddy, the high court postponed the case by eight weeks and asked the CID not to take up any probe till then.
The high court served notices on the defendants – the CID and also Yuri Reddy asking them to file counters by then. The case will now be taken up on December 6.
In his petition to the CID, Yuri Reddi stated that his family shares in Margadarsi were changed to top functionary Ch Shailaja's name by force and through threats by Ramoji Rao.
He told reporters that Ramoji Rao threatened him with a gun and manhandled him when he refused to act as per Ramoji Rao’s wishes.
"Now, as the AP CID conducts an investigation against Margadarsi, I came forward to lodge a police complaint seeking justice," he said.
Yuri Reddi claimed that Ramoji Rao, at gunpoint, coerced him into signing empty stamp papers that deprived his family of their rightful shares in the Margadarsi group.
He said his father G J Reddy had given Rs 5,000 to Ramoji Rao to start the Margadarsi chit fund group in 1962.
"In return, GJ Reddi was allotted 90 shares in the Margadarsi group at that time. Eventually those shares rose to 288. In 2016, the same shares were fraudulently transferred to the name of the group’s managing director Shailaja Kiran without my consent, by threatening me over a gun, and I was handed over a cheque of Rs 39 lakh as dividend, which counted only up to 2007," he alleged.
