Evidence Destroyed After Letter Was Sent To Centre: Former SEC Ramesh Kumar’s Secretary Confessions

24 Apr, 2020 17:19 IST|Sakshi
Former SEC N Ramesh Kumar, CID DG Sunil Kumar

VIJAYAWADA: The controversy surrounding the authenticity of the letter written by former Andhra Pradesh State Election Commissioner (SEC) Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar to the Centre received a new twist on Friday following sensational revelations made by his former additional secretary. Suspicion has emerged on the alleged destruction of evidence by Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar based on the confessional statement made to the AP CB CID by Samba Murthy, the additional secretary to the former SEC.

In his statement given to the CID, which is investigating the case, Samba Murthy revealed that the letter in question was first drafted on a laptop before it was transferred to a desktop computer with the help of a pen drive.

Interestingly, the letter was later forwarded to Ramesh Kumar through Whatsapp Web. Samba Murthy told the investigating officers that the letter was sent to the Central ministry from his mobile phone.

The CID has been entrusted with the probe relating to the alleged forgery of the former SEC’s letter that was sent to the Centre against the state government. The probe was initiated based on a complaint from YSR Congress Party MP V Vijaysai Reddy.

The CID officials investigating the matter said the files were deleted in the laptop while the pen drive was destroyed. The desktop was also found to have been formatted apparently after the letter was forwarded from it, they said. The CID is in the process of establishing as to why all the evidence in the laptop and desktop computer related to the letter was destroyed.

The CID DG Sunil Kumar who is investigating the issue also said that they were unable to understand as to why the pen drive had to be destroyed and the desktop formatted, which was not a customary practise. "These actions lead to the fact there something suspicious has happened and as there was no need to remove the evidence from the laptop, desktop and destroy the pen drive,'' he said. We will retrieve data from the desktop using cyber forensic tools and locate the origin of the letter, he said further.

Officials suspect that the letter could have come from outside. Incidentally, this is exactly the suspicion that YSRCP Rajya Sabha Member V Vijaysai Reddy had raised in his complaint.

CID DG Sunil Kumar said that a case has been registered on charges of tampering with the evidence and additional information and evidence was also collected with the regard to the number on the letter. The letter to the Centre had the number 221, which was also interestingly there on the reference letter given to TDP MLC Ashok Babu. ''We are also examining as to how these two letters had the same number on them,'' he said.

Also Read: AP Local Body Elections Postponed in View Of Coronavirus Threat

The Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy , in a letter addressed to DGP Gautam Sawang, alleged that the former SEC’s signature in the letter was forged and the documents enclosed with it were fake. Vijayasai Reddy alleged that there is credible information that the letter in question was actually drafted in the Telugu Desam Party office. He further accused TDP leaders Varla Ramaiah, Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar and TD Janardhan of forging the signature of Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar.

Vijaysai Reddy, in a letter addressed to DGP Gautam Sawang, alleged that the former SEC’s signature in the letter was forged and the documents enclosed with it were fake. Vijayasai Reddy alleged that there is credible information that the letter in question was actually drafted in the Telugu Desam Party office. He further accused TDP leaders Varla Ramaiah, Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar and TD Janardhan of forging the signature of Nimmagadda Ramesh Kumar.

Also Read: Nimmagadda’s Letter To Centre Was Forged, Alleges Vijaysai Reddy; Seeks Probe

whatsapp channel
Read More:
More News