Jagan: CBI Seeks Govt Cooperation

The Central Bureau Of Investigation is preparing to tighten its noose around several tainted ministers and IAS officials. CBI's Joint Director V V Laxminarayanana met Chief Secretary S V Prasad at the state Secretariat on Tuesday, which indicates that the Bureau might soon take action against some more officials and the ministers in connection with Jagan's disproportionate assets case.

The CBI official is understood to have asked the government to extend its cooperation specifically to arrive at or unearth information pertaining to the involvement of all concerned in the Emaar Properties - APIIC deal, which had resulted in huge losses to the state's exchequer.

So far, 74 persons have been named in its FIR.

Sources say that the Chief Secretary has been requested to help the CBI lay its hands on key and related files in the departments of Revenue, Information Technology, APIIC, Mines, Industries, Major Irrigation, Municipal Administration and Commercial Taxes.

Once the files fall into the hands of the CBI, it will initiate the process to effect the arrests of ministers or IAS officers involved in the deals as well as those who had played a role in helping Jaganmohan Reddy acquire illegal wealth.

The APIIC was allegedly forced to accept a mere 2% equity, and Emaar properties allowed a lion's share, under the then Managing Director (now Principal Home Secretary) of APIIC B P Acharya and the then APIIC chairman Ambati Rambabu, under the command of the then CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

The CBI Joint Director sought recorded evidence of the involvement of cabinet ministers and IAS officers in the irregular and illegal land allotments to Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy's business partners on a quid pro quo basis.

Home Minister P Sabitha Reddy and Balineni Srivasulu Reddy (now with Jagan's camp) held the portfolio of Mines one after the other during YSR's regime.

Dharmana Prasasda Rao, now Roads & Buildings minister, held the key Revenue portfolio when YSR was in power. The portfolio had given him a strong handle to favour Jaganmohan Reddy's business partners wherever there was ample scope to do so.

Both Geetha Reddy and Kanna Laxminarayana handled the Industries portfolio one after the other, and both of them were said to have showed undue favours allotting land in Special Economic Zones to Jagan and his partners.

APCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana also held Industries and Panchayati Raj portfolios under YSR's leadership. During YSR's regime, Botsa was believed to have had a hand in the affairs of the Volkswagen project.

The then Irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmiah (now minister for Endowments and IT) reportedly played a part in the irregularities in the Jalayagnam projects launched by YSR. (INN)