Gali Nagaraja
Hyderabad: Prasad V. Potluri, a close aid of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, is in trouble, after he reportedly set off his ferocious pet dogs against the city police at his Jubilee Hills residence in Hyderabad.
On June 29 he allegedly got his dogs to hound out a team of police, headed by the sub-inspector of Jubilee Hills police station from his palatial house. The police went to PVP’s house to quiz him in connection with a case of criminal trespassing.
The Prasad’s PVP group of companies invested Rs 146.970 crore in the controversial Jagathi Publications Private Limited owned by Jaganmohan Reddy, it is alleged. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its first information report mentioned PVP as the accused No.19 in the disproportionate assets case along with Jagan Reddy, who is the prime accused. Prasad furnished in the election affidavit submitted to the Chief Election Commissioner during the general elections in 2019 the details pertained to the case registered against him by the Directorate of Enforcement under the sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The business partnership PVP has with Jagan obviously helped Prasad get YSR Congress ticket for Vijayawada Lok Sabha seat in 2019 elections. But he lost the battle to the TDP.
PVP is also a film producer and business tycoon, enjoying political clout with roots in Andhra origin. PVP has been a focal point in business and political circles in Andhra Pradesh post bifurcation seemingly with intent to revel in one controversy or the other. Initially, he made a futile attempt to get a ticket from the TDP to contest the Parliament elections from Vijayawada in 2014. His wish to make forays into politics was not realised then as TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu turned down his request.
Later, PVP managed to secure the YSR Congress ticket to unsuccessfully contest the next election in 2019 from the same seat.
K. Srinivasa Rao, Assistant Commissioner of Police, West Zone, said the police are yet to arrest PVP, who is framed in a case with charges of preventing public servants from discharging their duties with criminal intent under the Section 353 of the IPC. The Jubilee Hills police wanted Prasad in another a case of property dispute which he had with his neighbour Vikram Kailash. PVP was miffed as his neighbour who went on constructing a high-rise building that, it is said, overshadowed the elevation of his house. PVP allegedly with his bouncers trespassed into the neighbour’s premises, stopped the construction work by intimidating him, the complainant alleged. The delay in the arrest of the high-profile accused gives rise to the suspicion that his political clout is coming handy to him.
Rags-to-riches story
Potluri V. Prasad is a Tollywood film producer, entrepreneur, owning up a company named PVP Group that ventured into Indian media and entertainment industry. PVP revealed his rags-to-riches story in media interviews during his election campaign in 2019. He claimed to have risen from scratch, living on one US dollar every day for nine months in the Michigan state of the US before he built his business empire with presence in IT services, technology, power sector, healthcare, sports and media. In pursuit of greener pastures, he went round 80 countries before settling down in Hyderabad.
Prasad, as a film producer, was in dispute with a director Vamsi Pidipalli over making a film sometime back. Upset with severe financial losses he allegedly incurred in producing that film as an offshoot of alleged violation of terms and conditions by the director, Prasad complained to the Telugu Film Producers Council (TFCL) against Vamsi.