In a setback to MP and president of YSR Congress Party, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, popularly know as Jagan, the Andhra Pradesh High Court today ordered a preliminary inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into allegations of corruption and misuse of power during his father's tenure as chief minister involving three of his companies.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Nisar Ahmed Kakru and Justice Vishal Afjalpurkar directed the CBI to conduct the preliminary inquiry within two weeks while admitting the complaints of three persons, including state textile minister P Shankar Rao and Telugu Desam Party MP Y Yerram Naidu, as writ petitions in the case.
Rao had written a letter to the Chief Justice in January this year pleading the court to order a CBI probe into the assets of Jagan. He alleged that the companies that benefited from the state government when YS Rajasekhara Reddy was chief minister had invested in Jagan’s companies as a quid pro quo.
The minister’s move came after Jagan parted ways with the Congress and made his political intentions clear by continuing his ‘Odarpu Yatra’ (consolation tour). Later, the TDP leader and an advocate from Kadapa district too approached the court with similar complaints against him.
Though these complaints were initially heard in April this year by another bench of the high court, they were later transferred to the one headed by the Chief Justice himself.
While delivering the orders, the Chief Justice said the director of the CBI or an officer appointed by him shall complete the preliminary inquiry in two weeks and submit the findings to the court. He also asked all the 52 respondents in the case and the officers and the offices pertaining to any department, as may be required for conducting the inquiry, to fully cooperate with the CBI. The division bench will begin further hearing into the case after two weeks.
The judges had yesterday itself asked the counsel of Jagan as to why the court should not order a preliminary inquiry to ascertain the facts.
Senior Supreme Court lawyer Rakesh Dwivedi, while appearing on behalf of Jagan on the second day today, pleaded to confine the preliminary inquiry, if ordered, only to the three alleged beneficiaries — namely Sandoor Power, Jagati Publications, and Bharati Cement. “There are 200 investors in Jagati Publications and why should they be subjected to such an inquiry,” he said while seeking safeguards against coercive actions such as attachment of bank accounts and arrests by the investigating agency.
He also argued that any inquiry based on mere allegations made by some persons, would amount to investigating a person to know if he was a law abiding citizen.
While Sandoor Power operates power projects outside the state, Jagati Publications runs a Telugu newspaper Sakshi and a TV Channel by the same name. Jagan along with a few other investors had sold a majority stake in Bharati Cement to French Company Vikat about a year ago.
Similar inquiry into Emaar MGF-APIIC deal
The court issued similar orders after hearing a petition yesterday on the alleged irregularities in the allotment of land by the state-owned Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and subsequent changes in the agreement entered between the two, including reduction of the latter's stake in housing, golf course and international convention centre projects involving 535 acres of government land.
The division bench headed by the Chief Justice ordered a preliminary inquiry by the CBI into the allegations, incidentally first levelled by Shankar Rao, against the company, officials of APIIC and persons in government. The bench asked the CBI to complete the inquiry in two weeks.
While the land was allotted to the company by the N Chandrababu Naidu government, the agreement was later altered and subsequently the equity of the APIIC, which was given in the project towards land, was brought down to 6 per cent from 26 per cent. The minister also alleged that the company had sold housing plots in the projects to politicians at a nominal rate of Rs 5,000 per square yard when the market price was ruling around Rs 50,000 per sqyd.
