Jagan case: CBI files 4th chargesheet; 1st AP minister named

Besides Rao, the Minister for Roads and Buildings, Jagan, former Minister Mopidevi Venkatramana Rao, two senior IAS officers -- Manmohan Singh and M Samuel--are also among the 14 people who figured in the fresh chargesheet by CBI which is probing the corruption charges against the Kadapa MP.

Dharmana(accused no 5) and Mopidevi(accused no 4) were the Ministers for Revenue and Infrastructure and Investment respectively in the Y S Rajashekhara Reddy government.

The opposition was quick to seek the resignation or dismissal of Dharmana from the Cabinet following the chargesheet filed against him.

Dharmana was not available for comments while there were no indications from the government yet that he might be dropped or asked to resign from the Cabinet.

Mopidevi, who served as minister in the Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinet as well, was arrested in May this year in connection with the case. He resigned as Excise Minister following the arrest and has been lodged in Chanchalguda prison here.

The 177-page chargesheet citing around 280 documents besides statements of witnesses was filed in the Court of Principal Special Judge for CBI cases here and it relates to investigations into land allotments for the ambitious Vadrevu and Nizampatnam Ports & Industrial Corridor (VANPIC) project as part of the probe against Jagan.

VANPIC's promoter( industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad) allegedly invested Rs 854 crore in the companies belonging to Jagan as a largesse for which the then government headed by late Rajasekhara Reddy allegedly doled out many favours including awarding the project.

The chargesheet also named Jagan's financial advisor V Vijay Sai Reddy, Nimmagadda Prasad alias Matrix Prasad, senior bureaucrat K V Brahmananda Reddy (presently under judicial custody), Nimmagadda Prakash, VANPIC Projects Pvt Ltd, Jagati Publications Pvt Ltd, Raghuram Cement Corporation Pvt Ltd and Bharati Cement Corporation Pvt Ltd, Carmel Asia Holdings Pvt Ltd and Silicon Builders Pvt Ltd.

They were booked for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating and other relevant sections of IPC and other provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.