Police give a spin to passport tale

HYDERABAD: In an apparent move to save themselves, Begumpet police officials have recorded an ‘additional confessional statement’ of Raghu, the man who was presented to the media as M Ramachandra Reddy, the kingpin of a passport racket.
According to Begumpet police, Raghu, in his ‘additional confession’ has stated that he was in search of a job and came in touch with Ramachandra Reddy through a person called Gangaram two months back.
Ramachandra Reddy kept him in a room and provided him with food and alcohol. They then asked him to act as Ramachandra Reddy with the police, for which he was reportedly offered Rs 4 lakh. He was given Rs 20,000 as advance, police said. Subsequently he was ‘arrested’ by the police.
It may be recalled that Begumpet ACP D Reddanna and the inspector Y Devadanam had addressed a press conference on September 4 and claimed credit for the arrest of the ‘kingpin’. It may also be recalled that The Times of India had exposed the arrest of the ‘fake’ accused by the Begumpet police.
Even the additional confession statement as claimed by the Begumpet police leaves room for questions.
The police claim that they came to know that Raghu was not Ramachandra Reddy only a few hours before he was produced before a magistrate on September 5. But the additional confession was recorded only on September 11, leaving open the question as to why this additional confession was not recorded immediately after the police learnt it was Raghu they had and not Ramachandra Reddy.
Meanwhile, the inquiry into this entire episode by the north zone DCP M V Ramachandra Raju is yet to be completed.