Deccan Chronicle chief arrested for assault

Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd Chairman T Venkatram Reddy was arrested on Saturday night on charges of assaulting and threatening a man who had exposed an alleged loan fraud in which Reddy was earlier arrested by the CBI.

According to the complaint, the incident took place on Wednesday at Manish Makkar’s home in south Delhi’s Mehrauli. Makkar approached the police with his complaint on Friday and subsequently Reddy was arrested.

A case of rioting, causing injury, trespassing and issuing threats has been registered against Reddy and others. The police said apart from Reddy, his driver Rakesh has also been arrested. Raids were conducted to arrest nine people who were alleged to have accompanied Reddy in the assault. The complainant has also submitted CCTV footage from his farmhouse where the alleged assault took place.

At about 8:30 pm on Wednesday, Reddy and nine others reached Makkar’s Mehrauli farmhouse in an Innova and another car. A police officer said the men -entered the farmhouse forcibly after hitting the security guard.

Makkar came outside on hearing the noise, but was manhandled by Reddy and others, he told the police. Some of them allegedly pulled out guns while one of them struck his face with a pistol butt.

The complainant was allegedly ordered to visit them in Green Park the next day with some documents and was warned of a bigger assault if he approached the police.