CBI begins custodial interrogation of Jagan in DA case

Hyderabad, Jun 3: A day after being granted custody of YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy by the

High Court, the

today began his custodial interrogation in the alleged disproportionate assets case registered against him.

After taking him into custody, a CBI team, which was earlier scheduled to take Jagan to its office at Koti here for questioning, instead took him to the senior officer's mess located in the DG & IG of Prisons office premises adjacent to the Chanchalguda Central Prison here at 10.30 am and began quizzing him, official sources said.

The Kadapa MP, who was arrested by the agency on May 27 in the disproportionate assets case, is under judicial remand till June 11 and lodged at Chanchalguda jail.

The AP High Court had yesterday given Jagan's custody to the CBI for five days till June 7 and directed the agency to question him during the day hours and later send him back to Chanchalguda jail at night.

The CBI had sought the custody of Jagan saying it needed to confront Jagan over the facts emerging out of the investigation into the Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Port and Industrial Corridor (Vanpic) project.

The central investigating agency wanted Jagan's custody to also verify about the alleged investments of Rs 850 crore made in his businesses as part of quid-pro-quo transactions.

The CBI also sought to gather information on alleged transfer of funds from different companies that finally reached the firms owned by Jagan.

The CBI, which has so far filed three charge sheets in the case, has accused Jagan of getting investments of several crore rupees from firms into his own businesses as part of quid-pro-quo, when his father late Y S Rajseskhara Reddy was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.

According to the FIR filed by CBI in August last year, the Jagan-owned Jagati Publications Pvt Ltd (managing Sakshi Telugu news channel and Sakshi daily) incorporated on June 14, 2006 and with an accumulated business loss of Rs 350 crore in four years could get a total investment of Rs 1,246 crore.

PTI