The police on Friday arrested Telugu film producer Singanamala Ramesh in Chennai, on charges of threatening a film financier Jayanth Reddy.
Singanamala, who was evading arrest since the past 5 months, was nabbed by a team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials at Chennai airport.
Crime Investigation Department (CID) Additional Director General of Police S V Ramana Murthy on Friday said Singanamala is an accused, along with others, in 3 cases of fraud, intimidation and cheating, amounting to crores of rupees.
Sources said the arrest was based on the Reddy's complaint that Ramesh, along with Bhanu Kiran, the prime suspect in the Maddelacheruvu Suri, had threatened to kill him in 2008.
Ramana Murthy said that the first case pertains to a fraud amounting to Rs. 14.69 crore, which was committed by Singanamala along with Bhanu Kiran (the prime accused in the murder of Maddelacheruvu Suryanarayana Reddy).
The second case pertains to the video rights of the film
Komaram Puli, in which he is alleged to have cheated the proprietor of Shalimar Videos of Rs. 34.75 lakh. The 3rd case also involves cheating and misappropriation.
The CID officer revealed that Ramesh Babu, along with his wife, had approached one B Vaijayanthi Reddy and her husband Jayanth Reddy for financial assistance for his film, claiming that he owned property in Poonjeri village, Mahabalipuram Road, Kanchipuram district.
He obtained a loan of Rs. 7.62 crore from Vaijayanthi Reddy initially, and another Rs. 10.5 crore subsequently.
Of this amount, Singanamala repaid Rs. 3.42 crore through the registration of 3 flats in Hyderabad, but failed to repay the remaining Rs. 14.69 crore, excluding interest.
Vaijayanthi discovered that Singanamala was using the land near Mahabalipuram Road, Kanchipuram district, to show as security to several other persons from whom he had taken loans.
When she started pressing Singanamala for a repayment of her loan, he called her and her husband to Balaji Color Labs, Film Nagar, Hyderabad, where he introduced them to Bhanu Kiran, who is said to have been the right hand of Maddelacheruvu Suri.
Singanamala and Bhanu Kiran threatened them with physical harm if they did not forget about the money and if they filed a police complaint.
The financier came forward to lodge a complaint after police started looking for Bhanu in connection with Suri's killing. Bhanu however, has been absconding, though 4 of his associates have been arrested.
Maddelacheruvu Suri, a politician-turned-gangster from Anantapur district, was gunned down by his close aide Bhanu in Hyderabad on January 3. Suri was the prime accused in the murder of former Telugu Desam Party MLA Paritala Ravi. (INN)