Former IAF squadron leader convicted of amassing illegal assets in land deals

The CBI registered the case on September 27, 2016 against Sreedhar, Balashowry and bank manager Manish Saxena.

A special court has convicted a former Indian Air Force squadron leader for allegedly transferring money for a former Congress MP for a land deal and amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 40.36 lakh, officials said on Monday.

Squadron leader Polu Sreedhar, who was battling several health problems, was denied a reprieve from the court, which convicted him of amassing assets that could not be satisfactorily accounted for, they said.

The special court will start hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment from January 2 next year, they said.

In its FIR, the CBI had alleged that deposits worth Rs 11.9 crore were made in his three accounts with Axis Bank from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2010.

The money is said to have belonged to former Congress MP Balashowry Vallabbhaneni and was said to be for a land deal worth Rs 12.5 crore.

The CBI registered the case on September 27, 2016 against Sreedhar, Balashowry and bank manager Manish Saxena. The agency filed a chargesheet against Sreedhar six years later on November 24, 2022, only because it could not find enough evidence against Vallabbhaneni and Saxena.

The agency reduced the amount of illegal assets from Rs 11.9 crore to Rs 40 lakh in its charge sheet as it found that the former MP had purchased land with his own money using Sreedhar's accounts.

Sreedhar alleged during the trial that the CBI did not take into account his income from stock trading, mutual funds and commissions from land transactions.

Special Judge Ashwani Kumar ruled that Sreedhar “could not prove” that the money was earned through stock trading or land deals as claimed by him, and that he was not aware of the missing thing either to his own office or to the income tax authorities money. Department.

The judge said the prosecution could prove beyond reasonable doubt that Sreedhar had “earned unaccounted money” to the tune of Rs 40 lakh.

“If the charge sheet is taken into consideration, it appears that the CBI is not concerned with the crores of rupees relating to ex-MP Balashowry, which were received in the three bank accounts of accused Polu Sreedhar and later withdrawn, but is concerned with only the excess amount of Rs. 40,36,560 as shown in statement 'B',” the judge observed.

The judge noted that according to the indictment, the lands were purchased by Balashowry “with his own money” and that Saxena “simply opened the accounts” of Sreedhar at his bank, and “no evidence was found that Mr Balashowry or Mr Manish Saxena instigated the offense of alleged criminal misconduct under Section 13 (2) of the PC Act committed by the former air force officer.

“(A) A public servant is required to disclose his assets and income to his employer as per the rules of service and he should not be allowed to convert black money of someone else into white money through his own account.

“In the light of the above facts and circumstances, it can be presumed that the money lying in his account is either the share of ill-gotten money of ex-MP Balaswory or has been wrongly earned, especially when he is unable to accountable by leading There is no evidence that this was earned through trading in shares or real estate, as well as the fact that he did not disclose this to his employer and the tax authorities,” the court said.

The court said that the mere fact that the investigating agency did not investigate the source where this money ended up in the bank account of the suspect himself does not absolve him from the responsibility resting on the suspect under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

“The mere fact that the suspect is not in good health and undergoes dialysis twice a week or suffers from other medical problems is not a reason to acquit him,” the report said.

First print: December 25, 2023 | 7:18 PM IST