GMR Group denies report of investing in Jagan Reddy’s firms
GMR Group denies report of investing in Jagan Reddy’s firms
Hyderabad: GMR Group on Monday denied a newspaper report that cited an official of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as saying a group entity had invested Rs55 crore through front companies in firms started by businessman-politician Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
“The GMR Group and all its entities have no interest or stake, financial or otherwise, in any company owned by Mr. Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, either directly or indirectly," GMR Group said in a statement.
“The GMR Group strongly denies the allegations made in these reports. It is also disturbing to note that no effort was made to check the veracity of the claim purportedly made by the officials of the investigating agency," the statement added.
In a Hyderabad-datelined report, The Times of India cited CBI joint director V.V. Lakshminarayana as saying that an “investment of Rs55 crore made by one Jhunjhunwala, through his Kolkata-based companies Satabdi and Swain, actually led to GMR Holdings, a company belonging to GMR Group."
“Neither the GMR Group nor any other company belonging to the GMR Group has any interest, financial or otherwise, in M/s Satabdi or M/s Swain," the company statement said.
The Andhra Pradesh high court has ordered the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry to determine if there was a case to conduct a full- fledged invesigation into the assets of Jagan Reddy, who has business interests in media and cement, among others. The CBI is due to submit its report to the court on Tuesday.
viswanath.p@livemint.com
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