HYDERABAD, June 8:
The Central Bureau of Investigation has issued a notice to Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President and India Cement Chairman N Srinivasan in the YSR Congress party Chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s disproportionate assets case and asked him to appear before it for questioning next week.
Sources said under the former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s tenure, India Cements allegedly received illegal water allocations when the then Congress Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah was holding the portfolio. In turn India Cements invested in Jagan’s companies.
The CBI has also summoned Managing Directors of Penna and Dalmia Cements to appear before it in the case.
The Penna and Dalmia cements were reportedly allotted lime stone mines by the then Revenue Minister in YSR Cabinet Dharmana Prasada Rao in return for investments in Jagan’s companies and hence the investigating agency would grill the officials to find out the exact reasons.
Apart from being the Chairman of the cricket body, Mr Srinivasan is also the owner of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings.
Mr Lakashmiah was grilled by the CBI along with senior IAS officer Aditya Nath Das for nearly nine hours at its office related to the case yesterday.
The CBI officials mainly sought the Minister’s explanation on the issuance of GOs 146 and 96 during YSR’s regime.
Mr Lakshmaiah had released GOs relating to Jalayagnam Projects and allotment of water to India Cements from the Krishna river for its manufacturing facilities in Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy districts.
He had issued two orders allocating about three lakh gallons of water a day from the Krishna river and 13 million cubic feet water from the Kagna river annually to India Cements to double its production capacity which invested Rs 15 crore in Raghuram Cements and Rs five crore in Carmen Asia Holdings a subsidiary of Sandur Power owned by Jagan.
The India Cements, in an apparent quid pro quo understanding, had reportedly invested Rs 40 crore in Jagathi Publications and Rs 100 crore in other companies of Jagan.
The Raghruram Cements became Bharati Cements after it was purchased by the Kadapa MP. The sources also said the allocation of water from the Krishna river was said to be in violation of the Bachawat Tribunal’s verdict on apportionment of river water between the riparian states.
The Supreme Court in March this year had ordered investigation against six ministers and eight IAS officers in connection with the 26 controversial GOs issued by the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy Government.
Already the CBI had questioned Home Minister Sabita Indira Reddy, Roads and Transport Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao in connection with the illegal assets case and issuance of GOs.
The CBI has still to issue notices to two cabinet ministers—J Geetha Reddy and Kanna Lakshminaryana—in the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.
The CBI has already arrested former Excise Minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, Matrix Labs Founder Nimmagadda Prasad and bureaucrat Brahamananda Reddy in the case. (UNI)
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