CBI questions Andhra's former chief secretary

[1]

Andhra Pradesh's former chief secretary P. Ramakanth Reddy on Friday appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case of alleged illegal assets of YSR Congress leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.

For the second consecutive day, the CBI officials were questioning the senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer who was the chief secretary when Jaganmohan Reddy's father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister.

Ramakanth Reddy, who at present heads the state election commission, was being questioned about industrial and infrastructure projects reportedly sanctioned during Rajasekhara Reddy's tenure on a quid-pro-quo basis.

The CBI Thursday questioned another IAS officer, Ajay Mishra, secretary (political) in the general administration department. He had earlier served in the infrastructure and investment department.

After filing the charge sheet in the Emaar-APIIC township case, the CBI has intensified its investigations into the illegal assets case of Jaganmohan Reddy, who is popularly known as Jagan.

The questioning of the two IAS officials came close on the heels of home secretary and senior IAS officer B.P. Acharya's arrest in the Emaar case. Another IAS officer and CEO of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), L.V. Subrahmanyam was included as an accused in the charge sheet in the same case.

The CBI booked Jagan and 72 others in August last year following a direction from the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

Jagan, the MP from Kadapa, is facing the allegation of conspiring with his late father and then chief minister YSR to roll out public assets in the form of mining licenses, special economic zones, ports, real estate permissions to unscrupulous investors who pumped in money into his companies on a quid-pro-quo basis.

The CBI last month arrested Jagan's close aide Vijay Sai Reddy. It is the first and only arrest made so far in the case of Jagan's disproportionate assets case.