Kalaniketan Gets Murkier as Owners' Fraud Links Traced

Hyderabad: It's a clothes showroom but the linen is getting dirtier as sleuths of the Central Crime Station (CCS) dig deeper into the Kalanikethan scam.

It started with a police complaint by Kalanikethan chain of showrooms managing director Leela Kumar lodging a police complaint that a businessman AVN Reddy of Shaikpet has duped him. When the police started investigation into the case they discovered that the complainant is actually the perpetrator in another crime. They promptly arrested him.
Further investigations into the working of Kalanikethan and related complaints from several quarters revealed surprising facts. In the name of business partnership, Leela Kumar was said to taken property papers of friends, relatives and associates. These papers he presented in the banks and availed crores worth of loans. The CCS investigation revealed that he, however, gave very partnership documents to very few of these "partners". This way he duped the "partners" and banks at the same time.
Another aspect is the suppliers to the Kalanikethan showrooms. The company has 21 outlets throughout the country. Wholesalers, local manufacturers supply huge quantity of material to these outlets. Managed by Leela Kumar the dues to these suppliers alone stands at Rs. 75 crore and have never been repaid. This is in addition to the over Rs. 100 crore loans from several banks.
Adding to the list of banks, suppliers and partners is the question of shop owners who have rented their premises for the Kalanikethan showrooms. Several of these outlets have closed down with outstanding rent running into huge amounts.
The CCS sleuths now suspect that a single person could not have masterminded or executed such deals that run into several crores. They dug deeper and found the kingpin....but they could not lay hands on him.
They required court permission to even question him. Efforts are now on to convince the courts and obtain the permission to arrest him.
The CCS is all set to file a petition in Nampally court on Monday seeking custody of those named in a case filed by AVN Reddy. They are also preparing to take over a case filed in Punjagutta police station against Leela Kumar on December 30.