Koneru Prasad alleges harassment by CBI

HYDERABAD: A special court on Thursday extended the CBI’s custody of Koneru Prasad, an accused in the Emaar Properties case, by five more days although the investigating agency asked for an eight-day extension.With his initial custody period of seven days ending Thursday, the agency brought Prasad, managing director of Stylish Homes Private Limited, to the court Thursday and sought extension of custody for he had not cooperated much with the investigation so far.Prasad is accused of selling high-end villas in the Boulder Hills township project built by a subsidiary of Emaar Properties for an undisclosed premium and pocketing the profits. The CBI’s deputy legal advisor B Ravindranath argued in court that Prasad had inside knowledge of the irregularities that took place in the sale of villas and the role of public servants in the scam. But in his seven days of custodial interrogation so far, he had cooperated only on two days but stonewalling the agency’s queries the rest of the time. Through interrogation of Prasad, CBI investigators managed to learn the details of the sale of villas worth only about Rs 30 crore while transactions worth another Rs 90 crore were yet to be accounted for. Thus, longer custody of the accused was called for, he argued.Prasad’s counsels argued against extension of custody, contending he had not been treated well. Prasad himself, in his initial replies to magistrate Naga Maruthi Sharma’s questions, said he had experienced difficulties in CBI custody. In Bhavani deeksha and speaking with folded hands, Prasad told the magistrate, “I’m being harassed mentally. They (CBI officials) did not provide me drinking water at night.’’ Prasad told the court he had only been a nominated director of Emaar Township Private Limited, which built the Boulder Hills project, and “I had no powers to do money transactions nor magical powers to make money.’’ Opposing extension of custody, his counsel Sudhakar Reddy argued that prior to Prasad’s arrest, he had been interrogated many times in the last two months and there was nothing more to know from him.After hearing arguments from both sides, the magistrate extended Prasad’s custody by five days.