Former TDP MLA from Ponnur and chairman of Sangam dairy Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar was arrested on Friday by a team from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police in his home village of Ponnur Mandal in Chintalapudi.
A strong group of around 100 police officers, including the local police, took him into custody in the early hours of the morning after he had been notified in accordance with Section 50 (2) CrPC.
Previously, the ACB had registered cases under Section 13 Paragraph 1, C and D of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and IPC Sections 408, 409, 418, 420, 465, 471 and 120-B, with 34 against Mr. have been read. Narendra, then chairman of Guntur District Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Limited, P. Gopala Krishnan, former executive director, and M. Gurunadham, former district cooperative officer.
“An investigation into the functioning of Sangam Dairy revealed various financial and administrative irregularities, chaired by Mr Narendra in agreement with others. The allegations against Mr Narendra are serious and the material is available at first glance indicated abuse of the official position, misappropriation of government goods for personal use and various other crimes, “the ACB said in a press release.
Naidu is crying badly
The national president of the TDP, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and the general secretary, N. Lokesh, condemned the arrest.
Mr Naidu said the recent arrests of TDP leaders pointed to the “vengeful attitude of Prime Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy”.
The dairy was founded in 1977 as a mutually supportive cooperative and has been a success story with a number of innovations. The dairy had farmers from Guntur, Prakasam and Krishna districts as shareholders.
In 2013, the management’s decision to bring the dairy under the Companies Act was controversial, with many party leaders also objecting to it. However, Mr. Narendra got stuck at his booth.
Shortly after the YSRCP came to power in 2019, part of the ruling party had begun to assert several irregularities in the dairy. The leaders of the ruling party also stated that no bonus was given to the peasants.