Krushi bank chief owns Rs. 70 lakh worth property

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, AUG. 24. The ongoing investigations into the Krushi Bank scam have revealed that the bank Chairman, Mr. K. Venkateswara Rao, has reportedly owned 6,750 square feet space, worth Rs. 70 lakhs, on the two floors of GS Chambers at Panjagutta in the city.

Officials of the CID have asked Registration Department authorities not to entertain any transactions of the said property, according to a press release from the office of the Director-General of Police. Further enquiries revealed that more than 4,000 depositors had deposited up to Rs. 1 lakh each. Insurance premium for these deposits, however, had been paid up to December 2001, it was stated.

Meanwhile, the special team appointed by the RBI to audit the accounts of the bank has begun its work. In another development, the bank Vice-Chairman, Mr. K. Venugopal, was produced before the Metropolitan Session Judge, Mrs. K.C. Bhanu, here on Friday.

The judge directed the CID officials to produce Mr. Venugopal in the court on Saturday morning. The officials maintained they would request the judge to hand over Mr. Venugopal to their custody for further interrogation.

No endowment fund in bank

Our Special Correspondent writes: The Endowments Department had maintained no account with the Krushi Bank but the department did deposit an amount of Rs. 1.21 crores in the bank between January 16, 1999, and November 11, 1999, the Commissioner of Endowments, Mr. S.M. Balasubramaniam, told a press conference on Friday.

However, the deposit had been withdrawn on December 31, 1999, following guidelines from the Government against depositing the department's funds in any cooperative bank, he said. He also said the department was `concerned' about reports in a section of press to the effect that it maintained deposits in the bank.

"The Endowments Act does provide for depositing the department's funds in cooperative banks, but we have withdrawn all our deposits from these banks," he noted. He said a deposit of Rs. 1.53 crores in Charminar Bank was also withdrawn on December 31, 1999. Mr. Balasubramaniam further said a sum of Rs. 1.78 crores relating to Common Good Fund and Rs. 17 crores relating to Archaka Welfare Fund was deposited in nationalised banks only.

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