The police is coming under intense pressure from VVIPs to dilute Saturday’s seizure of `35 lakhs from Yajur Mandir, the personal residence of the late Satya Sai Baba. Sources said police officials are receiving phone calls purportedly from important persons telling them to water down the case.
Among the arrested is Mr Chandrasekhar, driver of a Satya Sai Trust member, Mr V. Srinivasan (of WS Industries, Chennai), and Mr K. Sohan Shetty, the son of a former Karnataka DGP.
Sources said some callers had dropped the name of a Union minister to ask the police to dilute the case. Highly placed sources said some political leaders had asked them not to arrest the driver of Satya Sai Trust member V. Srinivasan. The driver, Chandrashekhar, was arrested nevertheless.
The driver, Mr Chandrashekhar, was picked up while he was going from Puttaparthi to Mangalore in a bus on Sunday along with Mr Sohan Shetty. He has been named by the engineer, Mr K. Harish Anand Shetty, who was transporting the cash, as the person who gave him the money.
A police officer said that phone calls of noted persons had been recorded.
Mr Harish Shetty, his brother, Mr K. Sohan Shetty, the son of fomer Karnataka DGP K. Umanath Shetty, and Mr Chandrashekhar, were remanded to judicial custody till June 27 by the district first class magistrate of Hindupur. A team led by DSP Kolar Krishna produced Mr Harish Shetty before the magistrate at his residence early Monday. Later, the police brought the other two accused to the Hindupur police station and produced them in court in the afternoon.