Over six years after the mysterious death of realtor K Raghunath in Bengaluru, the CBI Monday arrested DA Srinivas, the son of former MP DK Adikesavulu Naidu, his sister DA Kalpaja, and Karnataka’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP) SY Mohan in connection with the case.
Raghunath was once considered a close associate of the former Parliamentarian, who died in 2013.
The CBI said the accused were arrested on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of valuable security, forgery of government stamps and seals as well as destruction of evidence and creation of false evidence.
The CBI had registered a case in this regard in 2022 following the orders of the Karnataka High Court.
On May 4, 2019, Raghunath’s body was found at a guesthouse in Whitefield in Bengaluru. According to allegations, a few of Adikesavulu’s properties were registered in the name of Raghunath while the guesthouse where the realtor’s body was found was owned by Srinivas.
It is alleged that after the death of Audikesavulu, Raghunath and the former TDP MP’s children had a dispute over some properties, with the former claiming to be the owner of those assets, they said.
According to the two FIRs registered in 2022, Srinivas had asked Raghunath to come to the guesthouse where he was held in illegal custody for two days and later killed with his death being projected as a case of suicide.
HAL police had filed three FIRs at the time and later, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was appointed following court orders. The court had rejected the SIT report, remarking that the investigations were not done properly.
Raghunath’s wife Manjula and her son Rohith had approached Karnataka HC demanding a CBI probe while alleging that the accused had influenced police to forge the realtor’s will and suppress the post mortem report. The HC then ordered a CBI probe, which was upheld by the Supreme Court.
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In the petition, Manjula alleged that Srinivas and Kalpaja had assumed that Raghunath was behind the Income Tax (I-T) raid at their place in 2016 in which Rs 60 crore cash and assets worth Rs 250 crore were found. Raghunath was also being threatened by the accused to transfer the assets, which they claimed Audikesavulu had bequeathed to the realtor, to their name, the petition alleged.
The CBI has arrested the accused in connection with cases “relating to criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of valuable security, forgery of government stamps and seals as well as destruction of evidence and creation of false evidences,” the agency spokesperson said in a statement.
“These cases were registered by the CBI on the orders of Hon’ble High Court of Karnataka in matters related to the death of K Raghunath as well as other connected forgery cases, which were previously investigated by the state police,” the spokesperson said.
Mohan is presently posted at SHRC, Bengaluru, officials said.
Adikesavulu had several commercial properties in Bengaluru. These include a few spacious apartments in the city besides the Vydehi hospital.