Ramachandra Rao indicted by a U.S. Federal Jury on bribery charges

The U.S. on Wednesday approached India for the arrest of Congress Rajya Sabha member K.V. P. Ramachandra Rao, who has been indicted by a U.S. Federal Jury on charges of receiving bribes of $18.5 million from an American firm which was allowed to mine titanium in Andhra Pradesh.

In a letter sent by the American National Crime Bureau through Interpol to the CBI, the US authorities have said Mr. Rao should be put under provisional arrest till all the documents were handed over to India through diplomatic channels for his possible extradition to stand trial in Chicago, official sources said.

The sources said the CBI sent the letter to the Andhra Pradesh Police asking them to take action against Mr. Rao, who was a close aide of the late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

When contacted, Mr. Rao told PTI over telephone from Hyderabad that he had no information about anything. “I have not received any notice officially and have no information about what the U.S. authorities are doing.”

Asked about the indictment by the U.S. Federal Jury, he said, “how can I react on assumptions?”

The U.S. also informed the CBI that Interpol had already been approached for issuance of a Red Corner Notice against Mr. Rao, who was charged in the U.S. in an alleged international racketeering conspiracy involving bribes to State and Central government officials in India to allow the American firm undertake mining of Titanium minerals in Andhra Pradesh.

A U.S. federal five-count indictment, returned under seal in June 2013 and unsealed in Chicago on April 3, charges the 65-year-old Rao and five others with one count each of racketeering conspiracy and money laundering and two counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering.