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The man had contested the 2014 General Assembly elections in Telangana. (representative image: pti/file)
The man introduced himself as a seller and supplier of iron ore and entered into a contract, forcing the victim to pay Rs 6.57 crore for the supply of iron ore.
Police said in a statement on Tuesday that a 48-year-old man who contested the 2014 General Assembly elections in Telangana has been arrested on charges of indulging in forgery and using swindled money to fund his election campaign.
It added that a case has been registered against accused Siddhartha Reddy on the basis of a complaint from a company based in Nehru Place, Delhi with the Economic Crimes Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police.
Police said Reddy, the owner of Sidhartha Impex, presented himself as a seller and supplier of iron ore and entered into a contract with the complainant and urged the victim party to pay Rs 6.57 crore as partial payment for the supply of iron ore but did not supply the demand.
They added that Reddy has been a fugitive since the case against him was declared by the Delhi court in 2021 as the “declared offender” and a reward of Rs 50,000 was also announced upon his arrest.
A senior police officer said, “Using technical observation, the accused was arrested from Hyderabad and during interrogation, he revealed that he had spent the swindled amount to contest the assembly elections in Telangana in 2014, where he was the runner-up.”
According to the police statement, in the complaint, the director of the company alleged that his company had bought a firm international order for the export of 50,000 metric tons of iron ore from India to China, and in this regard, he was looking for some Indian sellers and traders who could provide the required quantity for export.
Reddy visited Delhi and assured the complainant that he would provide the iron ore and a contract worth US$6 million was signed.
As per the contract, the complainant paid Rs. 6.57 crore as partial payment for the supply of iron ore. However, the accused neither provided the iron ore nor refunded the money to the complaining company.
Instead, the accused made false claims that the iron ore was in the warehouse in Vizag, when he had no such warehouse. In total, Reddy had caused a loss of more than Rs 9 crore to the complainant, she said.
“During the investigation, a scrutiny of the accused company’s bank statement revealed that the money remitted from the complainant had been withdrawn in cash and upon checking at the Office of the Chief Commissioner of Customs, Port District, Visakhapatnam, he was informed that there was no warehouse booked by the accused company for storing iron ore in Visakhapatnam.” said the senior police officer.
Reddy started out as a railway contractor. Later on, he showed interest in politics and also started indulging in iron ore trading on a small scale in Hyderabad, Ramgarh and Visakhapatnam, police said.
The police added that he had opened the ownership company of Sidhartha Impex and solicited the complainant to obtain a contract for the supply of iron ore and deceived the complainant.
(This story was not edited by the News18 staff and was published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
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