BackCBI raids continue for second day
CBI raids continue for second day
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Hyderabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for the second day on Friday raided premises of companies and individuals suspected of investing in Congress party rebel Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s businesses in exchange for political favours doled out during his late father’s five years as Andhra Pradesh chief minister.
“The raids are continuing. It is part of the investigation process," CBI joint director V.V. Lakshmi Narayana told reporters in Hyderabad. “Based on our information, we will conduct further searches."
Jagan Mohan Reddy’s homes and business premises were raided by the investigating agency on Thursday, a day after it registered a case under sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The member of Parliament from Kadapa, who owns businesses including media and cement companies, allegedly benefited from investments made in them by several companies and individuals when his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was chief minister during 2004-09. The senior Reddy died in a September 2009 helicopter crash.
The companies whose premises were searched on Friday included Brahmani Infotech Pvt. Ltd, Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Penna Cement Industries Ltd, RR Global Enterprises Pvt. Ltd, Nimmagadda Foundation and Matrix Enport Holdings Pvt. Ltd (a co-promoter of Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Port and Industrial Corridor, or VANPIC), Telugu-language TV channels reported. Matrix Enport Holdings was promoted by serial entrepreneur Nimmagadda Prasad, who also runs Nimmagadda Foundation.
CBI officials visited offices of Brahmani Infotech to “collect some information," said a senior executive at Nava Bharat Ventures Ltd, of which Brahmani is a part. “The information has been given to them," said the executive who didn’t want to be named because he isn’t the authorised spokesperson.
Tathagato Roychoudhury, a spokesperson for Aurobindo Pharma, would neither confirm nor deny reports of the raids on its premises. Telephone calls to Penna Cement Industries went unanswered. A receptionist at VANPIC’s corporate office in Hyderabad slammed the phone down. Attempts to reach RR Global, Nimmagadda Foundation and Matrix Export on the phone were unsuccessful.
The CBI has been ordered by the Andhra Pradesh high court to probe the assets of Jagan Mohan Reddy, who left the Congress party and parliament after being sidelined by the party leadership, formed his own political outfit and contested a by-election in May, which returned him to the Lok Sabha (Lower House). He declared ₹ 365 crore of assets before the election, making him one of India’s richest politicians.
yogendra.k@livemint.com
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