Jagan facing CBI probe on assets worth Rs 43,000 crore

Hyderabad, Jul 13: Even as rebel Congress leader YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is spreading his political clout across Andhra Pradesh, there seem to be trouble in store for him. The Andhra Pradesh High Court has ordered a CBI enquiry into Jagan's wealth. There were allegations that he had amassed huge amounts of wealth ranking him the richest MP in India.

The order was given by a division bench comprising Chief Justice Nisar Ahmed Kakru and Justice Vilas V Afzalpurkar. The CBI were asked to submit the probe report in two weeks with the final date of the hearing to be announced after the receipt of the report.

On the probe order based on a letter written by Congress leader P Shankar Rao, the court felt there was a need for prima facie enquiry since it involved public money. The letter, written as a petition submitted in court on Nov 2010 sought a CBI enquiry into the alleged “ill-gotten" wealth of Jagan.

There were other Public Interest Litigation's (PIL) filed on Jagan's wealth with the court ordering that a CBI official appointed by the court will look into the matter. One of the petitioners and a lawyer, KK Sherwani stated that all evidence collected against Jagan will be handed over to the CBI.

Jagan's wealth has been making headlines and there were allegations galore that he amassed such massive wealth during the tenure of his late father and former Andhra Chief Minister YSR Reddy's regime. Shankar Rao also accused Jagan of flouting laws and floating firms for money laundering and routing black money through front companies in Mauritius.

Jagan's income was a mere Rs. 11 lakh in Mar 2004 that later swelled to Rs. 43,000 crore as of now. Sherwani commented on this, “When Rajasekhara Reddy was in power (2004-2009), he favoured some people in various projects and the money earned was invested into companies owned by his son."

Meanwhile, Jagan's counsel Rakesh Dwivedi stated that certain parties were using the court to malign his clients image and that they did not engage in such mud-slinging when Jagan was with the Congress.

OneIndia News