Former High Court judge claims two men cheated him out of ₹2.5 crore on pretext of buying electoral bonds to fund BJP

Former High Court judge Justice DSR Varma has filed a criminal complaint alleging that he was cheated by two men who took ₹2.5 crore from him to allegedly buy electoral bonds for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)..In a First Information Report (FIR) lodged at a police station in Hyderabad on February 27, the former judge who retired in 2010 said that although various amounts to the tune of ₹2.5 crore were arranged by his family and paid to the two men for buying electoral bonds, no such bonds were issued.As per the criminal complaint, the bonds were supposed to be “in favour of the government in the Center since 2021”, which is the BJP-led government..The two persons accused in the complaint are one Narendran and another Sarath Reddy."Mr. Narendran, who is a known person of our relatives took advantage of his introduction and came to me and sought for some amounts to the party in the center which will be acknowledged by the way of bonds. There on Mr. Sarath Reddy was deputed to collect the amounts (Mr. Sarath Reddy is said to be involved in a construction company by name Atmiya Homes),(sic)," the complaint stated..The former judge also alleged that Sarath Reddy promised to place the judge and his grandchildren “decently” in the United States, given the former judge’s prior experience as a judge of the High Courts of Allahabad and Andhra Pradesh.Believing his words, the former judge said that his daughters and wife sent the two men sums totalling ₹2.5 crore from time to time in 2021, which is evident from the text messages on WhatsApp..Despite sending such significant amounts of money, no bonds were issued, the complaint stated.The complaint further stated that no “favour” was done to the former judge or his grandchildren in the US either, although the former judge added that this aspect was “not very relevant or significant.”..The complaint highlighted that the actions of the accused men were in clear violation of the recent judgment of the Supreme Court deprecating the collection of amounts for electoral bounds.It also raised apprehension that money may have been swindled from him and misappropriated by the two accused men.."In the present case in spite of my insistence for issuing me bonds no such thing had happened. The said collection of amounts for about 2.5 crores, with out issuing any bonds indicates that the said amounts was misappropriated for their self," the complaint stated.As per the complaint, the two accused men have committed the offences of criminal breach of trust, misappropriation and cheating under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).