ED grills Rohit Reddy for 6 hrs, to quiz him today again

Hyderabad: After continually refusing, BRS MLA Rohit Reddy finally appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as officials questioned him for over six hours on Monday and asked him to show up again on Tuesday.

Talking to media personnel after being grilled, Rohit Reddy said that the authorities asked him for his bio data but did not clarify as to why they had called him. "They just sought my details and recorded the statement and asked me to appear again tomorrow. I gave all the information and will have to wait till tomorrow to know as to in which case they have called me for," said Rohit Reddy. Replying to a question, he said that he had no relation with the Manikchand company.

There was a huge drama on Monday as Rohit Reddy was to appear before the ED officials. The BRS MLA entered the ED office at 3:30 pm and came out late at 9:00 pm. The ED officials had issued a notice to Rohit Reddy asking him to appear with his bank account details. Authorities have also asked him to bring in the data pertaining to the assets of his family members since 2015.

As a controversy was erupting over the false information in the election affidavit on his educational qualification, the ED authorities asked the MLA to bring in his certificates as well. He said, "They just said 'We cannot answer more than this... Please cooperate'."

Before entering the ED office, Rohit Reddy said that he has no idea on as to which case the notices were issued to him. He said that he is a law abiding citizen and therefore has come to attend the inquiry and also added that he would answer media's questions only after coming out of the inquiry.

The BJP leaders including the party's Telangana president Bandi Sanjay Kumar, during his Praja Sangram Yatra, had alleged that Rohit Reddy was involved in the Bengaluru Drug Case and everything would come to light if the ED and CBI authorities question him. Interestingly, two days after the statement of Bandi Sanjay, the ED issued notices to Rohit Reddy. However, Rohit Reddy said that he was not involved in the drug case and he would resign if the BJP president proved his allegations.

Earlier this day, Rohit Reddy was summoned to Pragathi Bhavan by BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao. It is said that after this meeting, Rohit Reddy sent his personal assistant with a letter to the ED office and informed the authorities that he cannot attend the inquiry and sought one week's time. He had stated in the letter that he was given a short period of time to attend the inquiry. "Because of successive bank holidays, I was unable to get the bank statement and other papers, hence I will attend the inquiry on December 25," Rohit stated. He was supposed to appear at the ED office at 10:00am, however, authorities refused to give him any additional time and asked the MLA to attend on Monday and with this Rohit Reddy had to appear at the ED office at 3.30 pm.