Hyderabad:
When the CBI was raiding his homes and offices in Hyderabad and elsewhere in the country on Thursday, Jaganmohan Reddy was away in Nandigama in Krishna district on his odarpu yatra, perhaps trying to convey to people that he is not worried and believes all is well.
Or was he trying to make the best use of his time with the people, given the rumours that he may be picked up soon?
The CBI raided his home in Hyderabad as well as Bangalore, both known to be equipped with a private helipad, escalators, badminton and squash courts, home theatres, the works. Lotus Mahal, his home in Hyderabad, is said to be the biggest house in the city, with some 60 rooms or more. Incidentally, four companies owned by Jagan show their registered address here.
The searches by the CBI extended to Sakshi, the media house owned by Jaganmohan Reddy, Bharathi Cements and other properties in seven cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Rajkot and Vizag. Also probed were the residence of Nimmagadda Prasad of Matrix Labs and Srinivas Reddy of Hetero Drugs.
The investigating agency has been ordered by the Andhra High Court to examine the sources of the MP's enormous fortune. The CBI has said those who invested in Jagan's companies had done that as a quid-pro-quo for favours extended by his father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy when he was chief minister. The CBI has however not named YSR in its FIR.
A case filed by a Congress minister Sankar Rao had alleged that several investors who poured funds into Jagan Mohan's different businesses were returning illicit favours granted by his famous father, YSR Reddy, a Congress leader who served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and died in a helicopter crash in 2009.
'We will be scrutinizing all the documents and then decide how many more raids are required," said Laxminarayana, the CBI joint director in Hyderabad.
Jagan's business empire includes a vernacular newspaper, a TV channel, a cemet plant and a power project, and is estimated to be worth more than a few hundred crores. Earlier this year, he declared assets amounting to 365 crores.
Outside Jagan's residence in Hyderabad and elsewhere in the state, Jagan Mohan's supporters protested against the raids, describing them as politically motivated. there was a constant stream of political visitors to his residence, some of them from the ruling Congress.
Jagan himself has appealed to the Supreme Court to stop the inquiry against him and has described the case against him as a "witch-hunt" being conducted by the Congress, the party which he quit late last year.
Jagan has also said that if favours were granted via government decisions that benefited him, YSR's entire cabinet should be investigated. The state government however says it is only Jagan's phenomenal economic growth that is being probed and no one is pointing fingers at YSR.