Sealed cover gives sleepless nights to police bosses

HYDERABAD: Police circles in the city are abuzz that the names of a couple of very senior officers and several lower-level officers figure in a ‘sealed cover’ submitted to the court that is trying the fake stamp paper scam case.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has handed over to the special court a sealed cover containing the detailed confessional statement of Mohammed Abdul Waheed Quadri, an associate of Abdul Karim Telgi and co-accused in the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam.
After his arrest last week, Quadri was interrogated by senior IPS officer V V Gopalakrishna.
He reportedly disclosed the names of several police officers who took bribes from the stamp paper racketeers and facilitated them to carry on their operations unhindered.
Gopalakrishna was asked to interrogate Quadri after the latter insisted that he would disclose the names of police officers he had bribed only to an IPS officer, sources in the police department said.
The remand diary filed by the investigating team while producing Quadri in court said the latter had “categorically stated about the huge payments made to some police officials and others in connection with the fake stamps business in Andhra Pradesh and also the connivance of some such officials.�
However, the names of the police officers disclosed by Quadri were not made public. Instead, the ‘detailed confessional statement’ of the accused was handed over to the court in a sealed cover.
Sources in the police department said a few police officers are likely to be taken into custody under the Andhra Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act for their role in facilitating the scamsters.
The arrest warrants may be issued against them following the disclosure by Quadri. Though top police officers maintained that no senior police officer was involved in the racket, a couple of them, whose names are rumoured to be in the document submitted to the court, are worried lot. The precedent of Maharashtra putting senior police officers behind bars is all too glaring.
Meanwhile, SIT officials interrogated Quadri for the second day on Sunday. Quadri’s house was raided on Saturday evening. The investigators found some documents during the raid, sources said.