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Andhra Pradesh
By Santosh Patnaik
The detention was effected after a meticulously-planned trap laid at his house and other places in the city. A team from the anti-corruption headquarters of the CBI comprising 15 members took rooms in a beachside guest house and other places in fictitious names before undertaking search operations on Friday. Though the entire operation was kept a closely guarded secret, it leaked to the local media at about 10 a.m. forcing all those present at the Zilla Parishad Guest House near Appughar to cover the scheduled press conference of the Union Minister for Urban Development, Bandaru Dattatreya, to rush to the CBI office, where searches were being conducted at that time. As soon as they landed along with cameras and crew members of various TV channels, CBI officials guarding the reception told them bluntly that there were no raids. "Our DIG Sir is busy. You can speak to him later,'' one of them told the media corps. Meanwhile, rumours spread that the raid was on a DIG of a para-military force and Mr. Sudhakar Rao would brief the media any time. The assembly of large contingent of mediapersons at MVP Colony and the private guest house on the Beach Road created immense curiosity among the residents of the area, who wanted to know from the them the reason for their presence there. Curtains were rung down on the action packed-drama when the DIG was whisked away from his house by the CBI team from Delhi around noon in a private car to an undisclosed destination. Meanwhile, a senior official confirmed the detention, saying they would fax details later in Delhi. Print and electronic media reporters and lensmen chased the speeding car like paparazzi. The Ambassador bearing registration AHQ 1415 tried to con the chasing mediapersons by going up to VUDA and after criss-crossing into the bylanes in the East Point Colony, stopped at the Kamath Guest House on Beach Road where the CBI sleuths had reserved two rooms for them. Even as grilling continued till late evening, the mahila court public prosecutor, Nagasri, and her maid servant, who were caught red-handed while accepting Rs.5 lakhs in cash as conduit for the accused, were brought to the Special CBI Judge's Court in Pithapuram Colony. Along with Sudhakar Rao, the CBI sleuths also took a sealed briefcase with wads of currency notes and a bag containing some incriminating documents to the private guest house and later produced them in the CBI court. Even as the grilling was in progress at the guest house, one senior CBI official asked the reporters and cameramen to leave the premises and take a press note containing details on the case from the CBI office in MVP Colony around 1.30 p.m. To their chagrin, the mediapersons were told again by the staff at the reception that no CBI officer from Delhi was camping in the office and they had not been told about plans to deliver press notes to them. When they sent a note to the CBI officials in the guest house on the shabby treatment meted out to them and clarify whether they would get a briefing or a note, the leader of the team and the DIG of the premier investigation agency, Sudhir Pratap Singh, apologised for the `goof-up'. Later, he himself proceeded to the CBI office in MVP Colony and not only distributed copies of the note but also gave clarification to the probing questions, albeit, parrying several queries with a stock reply: "I am not competent to answer''.
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