CBI names senior Andhra minister in Jagan charge sheet

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday named Andhra Pradesh Industries Minister J. Geeta Reddy as an accused in one of the two charge sheets it filed in the disproportionate assets case involving YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.

The agency filed the two charge sheets in Indu Techzone and Lepakshi Knowledge Hub (LKH) deals in a special court, taking the total number of charge sheets in the case to 10.

Geeta Reddy has been named as one of the accused in LKH charge sheet. The latest charge sheets have also named former ministers, Sabitha Indra Reddy and Dharmana Prasad Rao, who also figured in the previous charge sheets.

Geeta Reddy, who is the fourth minister to be named in Jagan (as Jaganmohan Reddy is popularly known) case, called on Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy Tuesday night and offered to resign.

Sabitha Reddy quit as home minister and Prasad Rao resigned as roads and buildings minister in May after they were named by the CBI. In May last year, excise minister Mopidevi Venkatramna was arrested by the CBI. In jail since then, he was was released Tuesday, a day after the CBI court granted him 45-day interim bail.

All the four held different portfolios in the cabinet of Jagan's father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy between 2004 and 2009. The CBI has charged them with issuing orders in violation of rules to favour companies which invested in Jagan's businesses.

In the two charge sheets filed Tuesday, the CBI named Jagan, his financial advisor Vijay Sai Reddy, promoter of Indu Group Shyam Prasad Reddy, senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Ratna Prabha, Sam Bob, M. Samuel and suspended IAS officer B. P. Acharya, LKH, its managing director Srinivas Balaji and Jagati Publications owned by Jagan.

Both the charge sheets relate to quid pro quo investments in Jagan's companies. The CBI has charged Indu Group with investing Rs.70 crore in Jagan's companies for the alleged favours it received when his father was the chief minister.

The government had allotted 8,848 acres of land to Indu Group, an infrastructure firm, in Anantapur district for developing the LKH, an industrial park. Indu Group was also allotted 250 acres of land at Shamshabad on Hyderabad outskirts for the Indu Tech Zone.

The CBI had last week filed three charge sheets against three cement companies, which made quid pro quo investments in Jagan's firms.

Jagan, who is MP from Kadapa, is in jail since May last year. His bail petition is likely to come up for hearing Wednesday.