Hyderabad:
A Central Bureau of Investigation team today raided the Hyderabad residence of YSR Congress leader Jaganmohan Reddy, as part of investigations into his assets.
Jagan Reddy, the son of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YSR Reddy, is accused of having assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Sources said the CBI team, that included officials from different government teams, was trying to assess if the declarations made by Mr Reddy matched independent assessments.
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 the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. 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, a Congress leader who served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and died in a helicopter crash in 2009.
Jagan's business empire includes a vernacular newspaper, a TV channel, a cement 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.
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.