HYDERABAD: Turkish currency Lira, that is no longer valid but purported to be worth `660 crore in Indian currency vallue, that was seized in the city recently from two gangs is suspected to have been stolen from Satya Sai Baba Trust of Puttaparthi in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh after the demise of Satya Sai Baba.
After Sai Baba passed away in April 2011, there were allegations of theft of huge amounts of money from the Trust’s building at Prasanthi Nilayam in Puttaparthi. The Trust used to receive huge donations from foreign countries.
Investigating into the case, the Hyderabad police and SOT of Cyberabad, which arrested 17 persons in two cases, came to the conclusion that the Turkish currency, which was withdrawn from circulation later on, was stolen from the Satya Sai Baba Trust of Puttaparthi.
“Preliminary investigation has revealed that the banned Turkish currency worth `660 crore in Indian currency was stolen from Satya Sai Baba Trust. Five years after the demise of the godman, the stolen foreign currency was flooding the city,” said a senior police officer associated with the investigation.
Police have identified five gangs that were involved in circulating the banned Turkish currency. These include Gopu Ramalingam gang of Karimnagar, Puchakayala Veera Venkata Satyanarayana gang of Rajamahendravaram, Balla Hema Kumar gang of Guntur and Anil Kumar gang of Khammam.
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Seized Turkish currency was stolen from Sai Baba Trust
