CBI conducts searches at premises of Jagan Reddy

A day after it registered an FIR against YSR Congress chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the illegal assets case, the CBI on Thursday conducted searches at the premises of various companies which have invested in the businesses of the Kadapa MP in five cities. The searches were carried out in Hyderabad and other places in Andhra Pradesh besides Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai. The searches were being carried out at some of the offices of the firms owned by Jagan, besides at the residence of the Kadapa MP and that of his relatives in posh Banjara Hills area in Hyderabad. CBI searched the premises of AP Principal Secretary (Home) B P Acharya and also registered a case against Dubai-based Emaar properties and searched the premises of real estate developer Emaar-MGF in Hyderabad and Delhi. It is a case of conspiracy between AP government officials and Emaar in the development of villas and apartments, the agency said. The Andhra Pradesh High Court had on August 10 ordered a CBI inquiry into the land allotments made to Emaar by the then Rajasekhara Reddy Government and dilution of the stake of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) in the joint venture with Emaar for the development of a township in the city.
Separate teams were formed to conduct the searches after the central agency approached the CBI Special Court to seek search warrants for over 90 locations owned by as many as 32 corporates and some individuals who have invested in the firms owned by Jagan.
Acting on the separate petitions filed by Textile Minister P Shankar Rao and TDP leader Yerran Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had recently ordered CBI to probe the alleged illegal assets that the Kadapa MP had amassed during his father's regime as Chief Minister.The agency in a separate case searched the premises of Principal Secretary (Home) Acharya and builder Emaar-MGF in Hyderabad and Delhi.The case relates to alleged criminal conspiracy between state government official and Dubai-based Emmar group for diluting state government's Andhra Pradesh Industrial Corporation's stake in a posh township developed through a joint venture, the agency spokesperson said.Reacting to the development, Executive President Emmar-MGF Sanjiv Saddy said, "As a corporate policy, the group always cooperates with the investigating agency and adheres by the law. We are providing all the documents sought by the CBI officials and cooperating with them."The Andhra Pradesh High Court had on 10^th August ordered a CBI inquiry into the land allotments made to Emaar by the then Rajasekhara Reddy Government and dilution of the stake of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) in the joint venture with Emaar for the development of a township in the city.
CBI, which constituted 15 teams for the operation, searched some of the offices of the firms owned by Jagan, besides his residence and that of his relatives in posh Banjara and Jubilee Hills area in Hyderabad.Searches were on at the residences of Vijay Sai Reddy, who is vice-president of Jagati Publications (which publishes Sakshi Telugu newspaper and also Sakshi TV), owned by Jagan, and his sister Sharmilas residence at Sagar Society in Hyderabad.The CBI teams also conducted searches at the residences and office premises of individual investors including Nimmagadda Prasad of Matrix Labs and Lagadapati Sridhar who runs Jubilee Media in Hyderabad. Sridhar is youngest brother of Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal.

Among the firms where CBI conducted searches include R R Global, Sandur Power, Jagati Publications, Carmel Asia Holdings and Bharati Cement.

CBI Joint Director V V Lakshmi Narayana, who is heading investigations, said they would brief the media on the developments after completion of the searches.

A senior CBI officer said, "Searches were conducted at the residence of Acharya and we have collected some documents".

Acharya was the then managing director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).

The controversy centres around dilution of APIIC's equity from 49 percent as agreed in the original memorandum of understanding (MoU) to 26 percent and also Emaar roping in its group company Emaar-MGF Land Limited as a co-developer for the township component of the 258-acre integrated township project at Gachchibowli in Hyderabad.