Bhumana sticks to his stand on Parakamani case, demands CBI probe

YSR Congress Party State official spokesperson and Chittoor district president Bhumana Karunakar Reddy upped the ante against the ruling NDA Alliance government by demanding a CBI probe into the ‘Parakamani scam’ that rocked the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) two years back.

Even as two TTD Trust Board members, representing the NDA Alliance government, appeared to have had the last laugh on Saturday with the release of a surveillance CCTV footage, which has been termed as a ‘sensational expose’ of the Parakamani scam, Mr. Karunakar Reddy vowed to chop his head off at Alipiri, the foot of Tirumala hills, if the ruling alliance proved its allegation. In the same vein, he demanded a public apology from them if they could not prove his involvement in the entire issue.

Addressing a media conference here on Sunday (September 21), Mr. Reddy squarely blamed the Minister for Education Nara Lokesh and TTD Chairman B.R. Naidu of unnecessarily dragging his name into the scam, recalling that accused C. Ravi Kumar was caught stealing currency notes on April 29, 2023, when he was not the Trust Board chairman.

“The accused has admitted to have been stealing currency notes over the last 20 years, which also concurs with the period of TDP rule under Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu. Why did his government not unearth the scam during his rule?” he countered.

Brushing aside the charge that the Trust Board formed under the YSRCP Government had compromised with the accused, Mr. Reddy questioned why would they catch the accused red-handed if they were to strike a deal with him. As the family members turned repentant and refused to own the property gained through sinful means, they volunteered to register the landed properties worth ₹14 crore in the name of the TTD, which was accepted through a Board resolution, Mr. Reddy explained.

“Is there any such instance of recovering stolen property in the TTD’s history? Instead of hailing our decision, the government is resorting to mudslinging,” he rued.

Mr. Karunakar Reddy dared the government to hand over the case to the CBI, and not the CB-CID functioning under its control, to bring the loose ends in the case to light.