Senior IAS officer B.P. Acharya on Tuesday told the court that he had no knowledge of the excess money collected from villa plot owners. The crux of the CBI’s case has been that the Stylish Holmes Private Limited collected excess amounts over and above the documented price of Rs 5,000 per sqyd causing wrongful loss to AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).
“The petitioner never got a chance to know about the collection of money through sale of villas either through any document or person. When chartered accountants failed to detect it, how can the APIIC managing director know about it in the absence of any document suggesting collection of excess money,’’ argued V. Surender Rao, counsel for Acharya.
He told court that the investigating agency arrested him to mar his career at the instance of some politician. However, the CBI refuted the allegations. Senior counsel for CBI B. Ravindranath argued that the petitioner failed to take necessary steps despite knowing sale of villa plots and even helped one of his friends Satish Kumar in buying a plot at Rs 5,000 per sqyd though the market price was much higher.