Telangana-based politician held for Rs 6.7-crore fraud

NEW DELHI: The economic offences wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has arrested a Telangana-based politician who allegedly duped the director of a Delhi-based firm of over Rs 6.7 crore.
The suspect, Siddharth Reddy, had taken the amount on the pretext of a business deal involving the import of iron ores but used the cash to contest assembly elections. He went underground after he lost the election.An NBW was issued by the court, and a Rs 50K reward was declared for his arrest.
The accused was identified as Sidhartha Reddy (48), a native of Hyderabad. He was arrested near Leela Nagar in Ameerpet, Hyderabad. Police said they got a complaint from a private firm that they had procured a confirmed international order to export 50,000 metric tonnes of iron ore from India to China. "The complainant was looking for some Indian sellers and traders who could provide the requisite quantity of iron ore for export. Reddy visited Delhi and assured the complainant that he would supply iron ore to complete the order," a police officer said.
Another officer said, "A buyer-seller contract for a value of USD 6,000,000 was signed. Reddy had to execute a bank guarantee for rupees equivalent to USD 1,200,000 and another performance bank guarantee for USD 53,000 in equivalent Indian rupees, valid till completion of the transaction."
Reddy misrepresented the complainant that he had already procured the iron ore and that all the material was stored in the warehouse at the Vizag port. The complainant company transferred the amount to the bank account of the Reddy's firm in Hyderabad.
Thereafter, the complainant arranged for a ship to carry the shipment of the iron ore to its party in China from Vizag (Visakhapatnam). When the ship arrived at the port, Reddy did not submit the requisite papers regarding the loading of the consignment of iron ore.
Due to the deliberate delays, the ship left due to the non-supply of material by the Reddy. "This caused a loss of Rs 1.7 crore to the complainant on account of detention and demurrage charges," police said.
Subsequently, the performance bank guarantee issued by the complainant in favour of the Chinese buyer, amounting to USD 1,70,000, was encashed by the Chinese buyer due to non-performance of the contract, thus causing further monetary loss to the complainant company. In this way, the accused, Reddy, caused a total loss of more than Rs 9 crore to the complainant.