Latest news with #VarunKumar
Time of India
05-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Varun Kumar named 40th accused in AP liquor scam; SIT moves to bring hhm back from US
Vijayawada: In a significant development in the alleged liquor scam case, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has filed a memo in the ACB Court in Vijayawada, naming Purushottam Varun Kumar as the 40th accused. Varun Kumar, a close associate of prime accused Raj Kasireddy, is believed to have played a key role in the financial fraud. Investigators revealed that he fled the country in July or August last year and is currently residing in the United States. Lookout notices have already been issued. According to sources, Varun Kumar is originally from Secunderabad and holds an engineering degree. Before his alleged involvement, he worked at a coffee shop in Hyderabad, earning a monthly salary of Rs 32,000. His entry into the scam began when a non-resident Indian doctor from Andhra Pradesh introduced him to Raj Kasireddy's network. He was subsequently appointed Andhra Pradesh operations head of a private distillery based in Puducherry. Authorities found that Varun's name was used to siphon off hundreds of crores of rupees. The SIT's investigation uncovered that Raj Kasireddy allegedly coerced the directors and executives of a Tamil Nadu-based company into handing over control of their associate distillery. Following this, Varun was installed as the AP operations head, and a bank account was opened in his name with cheque-signing powers of up to Rs 10 crore. Despite lacking basic infrastructure for liquor production, the distillery received massive supply orders from the Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited (APSBCL). From June 2020 to March 2024, APSBCL transferred a staggering Rs 459 crore to the company's account—an amount the SIT flagged as highly irregular. Investigators found that the funds were rapidly diverted to several other accounts, many linked to suspicious or fictitious companies. With substantial evidence now in hand, the SIT has formally added Varun Kumar as an accused. Authorities are working to bring him back to India to extract further details and expose deeper layers of the scam.
The Hindu
04-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Varun eyes senior team return through Europe tour with India 'A'
Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist defender Varun Kumar is eyeing a comeback to the Indian men's hockey team with some good performances with the India 'A' squad in the upcoming tour of Europe. Varun, a potent defender, failed to make the Paris Olympics squad, and has been out of the the senior side for over a year. He was last seen in India colours during the friendly match against Germany in New Delhi in June last year. The dragflicker has set his sights on next month's Asia Cup to be held in Rajgir to make his comeback, and is aware that a good outing in the Europe tour will help his case. "Certainly, my personal goal is to return to the senior team. But more important for me right now is to improve my game. Not having played a proper tour in over one-and-a-half years, it is a long time and the game is constantly changing. The structure has changed and it has also become much faster. The way I am looking at it, is to start fresh," said Varun. "Missing out on the Paris Olympics was painful. I know I was in the reckoning to make the squad but now, I have left the past behind and ready to start fresh with this opportunity to play for India 'A'," added the dragflicker, who was also part of India's junior World Cup-winning team in 2016. "Playing the European teams, who are preparing for the Euro Cup will be quite exciting and challenging. It will be a learning experience for me and I know a good show here will count, especially with the Asia Cup coming up in India." The India 'A' team led by Sanjay will play two matches each against Ireland, France, and the Netherlands along with a match each against England and Belgium starting July 8. The matches will be held in Eindhoven and Amstelveen in the Netherlands and the match against Belgium will be played in Antwerp. "Personally, for me, it has been a tough road back into the core probable group. Last 7-8 months I have worked a lot on my fitness and also mentally, it has been extremely challenging," Varun said. "Returning to form has not been easy but I am really grateful to my family, teammates and coaching staff who have stood with me in tough times and constantly kept motivating me." The India 'A' team will leave for Amsterdam on Friday night from here.
Hindustan Times
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Hindustan Times
Varun eyes senior team return through Europe tour with India 'A'
Bengaluru, Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist defender Varun Kumar is eyeing a comeback to the Indian men's hockey team with some good performances with the India 'A' squad in the upcoming tour of Europe. Varun eyes senior team return through Europe tour with India 'A' Varun, a potent defender, failed to make the Paris Olympics squad, and has been out of the the senior side for over a year. He was last seen in India colours during the friendly match against Germany in New Delhi in June last year. The dragflicker has set his sights on next month's Asia Cup to be held in Rajgir to make his comeback, and is aware that a good outing in the Europe tour will help his case. "Certainly, my personal goal is to return to the senior team. But more important for me right now is to improve my game. Not having played a proper tour in over one-and-a-half years, it is a long time and the game is constantly changing. The structure has changed and it has also become much faster. The way I am looking at it, is to start fresh," said Varun. "Missing out on the Paris Olympics was painful. I know I was in the reckoning to make the squad but now, I have left the past behind and ready to start fresh with this opportunity to play for India 'A'," added the dragflicker, who was also part of India's junior World Cup-winning team in 2016. "Playing the European teams, who are preparing for the Euro Cup will be quite exciting and challenging. It will be a learning experience for me and I know a good show here will count, especially with the Asia Cup coming up in India." The India 'A' team led by Sanjay will play two matches each against Ireland, France, and the Netherlands along with a match each against England and Belgium starting July 8. The matches will be held in Eindhoven and Amstelveen in the Netherlands and the match against Belgium will be played in Antwerp. "Personally, for me, it has been a tough road back into the core probable group. Last 7-8 months I have worked a lot on my fitness and also mentally, it has been extremely challenging," Varun said. "Returning to form has not been easy but I am really grateful to my family, teammates and coaching staff who have stood with me in tough times and constantly kept motivating me." The India 'A' team will leave for Amsterdam on Friday night from here. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Hindustan Times
17-06-2025
- Hindustan Times
Punjab Police arrests two members of inter-state cyber fraud gang
Chandigarh, The cyber crime division of the Punjab Police has busted an inter-state gang involved in investment fraud and arrested two persons, a senior official said on Tuesday. He said Varun Kumar was arrested from Panchkula in Haryana and Sahil Sethi from Abohar in Punjab. According to Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav, the gang used to lure people through Telegram and WhatsApp groups by offering high profits in 'stock market investments'. The fraudsters used to convince the victims to install a fake K application, which projected huge returns on their invested amount. With the application showing fake profits, the victims continued to 'invest' money by transferring them to different bank accounts as directed by the fraudsters. DGP Yadav said the gang's kingpins used to give commission to the arrested accused based on the amounts being transferred into the bank accounts. "Preliminary investigation has revealed that the arrested accused were involved in 34 other cyber fraud complaints filed across 14 states, with the total scam amount exceeding ₹8 crore," Yadav said, adding that a probe is on to uncover the virtual mobile numbers and the broader network behind these fraudulent activities. Sharing the details, Additional Director General of Police , Cyber Crime, V Neeraja said that a thorough investigation was carried out under the supervision of Inspector Jujhar Singh after a victim, who was duped of ₹15 lakh, filed a complaint. The team, using multiple OSINT techniques and technical assistance from the Samanvay portal of Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, managed to establish the identity of the accused persons and eventually arrested them, the ADGP added. She said further investigation regarding the virtual mobile numbers and the fake bank accounts, traced to Delhi and NCR region, is in progress.
The Hindu
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Invoke Goondas Act against sand smugglers, sand miners: activists
A group of environmental activists on Thursday urged the State government to arrest all those arrested recently for illegal sand mining from the Cauvery be detained under the Goondas Act. In a memorandum addressed to Karur District Collector M. Thangavel, the activists said that a special team formed by Tiruchi (Range) Deputy Inspector-General of Police Varun Kumar had arrested 10 persons and seized 26 tipper lorries, three cars, one laptop, and four seals with the State government emblem, a trip sheet, a large number of holograms and ₹2.26 lakh cash at Manmangalam for illegal mining and transporting the sand with forged documents, thereby suggesting that the illegal sand miners had run a parallel government. It had brought to light that they had indulged in large-scale sand mining, worth several crores, for so long by making fake government emblems, documents and seals, they said. R.S. Mugilan, coordinator, Tamil Nadu Environmental Protection Movement, who along with other activists presented a petition to the district authorities, said that within a few days after the arrest and seizure of vehicles, the accused again started to indulge in sand mining from the Cauvery, thereby suggesting that no policemen, including the DIG, could not stop their illegal activities. It should be stopped and the offenders should be detained under the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Dangerous Activities Act (Goondas Act), he added.
