The Tadipatri police on Saturday filed a case against former MLA and TDP leader J.C. Prabhakar Reddy and three others for allegedly forging documents and selling 18-wheeler trailer lorries.
Ten persons who had purchased the vehicles from Nageswara Reddy, fleet manager of Mr. Prabhakar Reddy, staged a dharna in front of the TDP leader’s residence demanding their money back as they were allegedly sold BS-III lorries as BS-IV vehicles. The Road Transport Department had seized the vehicles, they said.
Of the 154 BS-III vehicles purchased from Ashok Leyland (purportedly as scrap), 80 had been registered in the district. Of them, 30 were sold in the name of Mr. Nageswara Reddy as the authorised signatory of Jatadhara company and the remaining in the name of J. Chinna Uma Reddy.
“The lorry owners in whose names the vehicles were registered approached Mr. Nageswara Reddy and demanded their money back. As Mr. Prabhakar Reddy’s family owned the company and he himself enjoyed the sale proceeds, Mr. Nageswara Reddy advised the lorry owners to put forth their demand before the former MLA and accompanied them to his residence,” said Tadipatri Deputy Superintendent of Police A. Srinivasulu.
The police immediately cleared the place and ensured that there was no untoward incident.
Mr. Nageswara Reddy and the lorry owners later filed a complaint with the police against Mr. Prabhakar Reddy under Sections 420, 467, 468, and 471 of the IPC, said Mr. Srinivasulu. “We will investigate and proceed accordingly,” he added.
The moot question
Meanwhile, the Transport Department is looking into how 154 or more vehicles could come out of Ashok Leyland in one piece with the chassis and engine numbers of BS-III vehicles after they were banned for registration from March 31, 2017.
“We have not received any complaint in the past four months regarding sale of these vehicles in a fraudulent manner to the C. Gopal Reddy & Co. of Jatadhara by Ashok Leyland, or any other agent,” said Anantapur Deputy Transport Commissioner N. Sivaram Prasad.
When the Transport Department contacted Ashok Leyland, it said that it had sold only BS-III scrapped vehicles in “unregistrable condition.”
The trail of invoices was being followed, the department officials said.
