Hyderabad: The Central Bureau of Investigation has summoned Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president N Srinivasan for questioning in connection with the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Mr Srinivasan has been summoned because he is the Managing Director of India Cements Ltd, which invested in Bharathi Cements and Jagathi Publications, companies promoted by Jagan Reddy. The CBI has alleged that India Cements invested in these companies in a quid pro quo - that two plants of the company in Andhra Pradesh received huge water allocations when Jagan Reddy's father YS Rajasekhara Reddy was Chief Minister of that state. This the CBI alleges helped India Cement increase production substantially. Apart from Mr Srinivasan, other senior officials of the company have also been summoned.
(Who is N Srinivasan?)Mr YS Rajasekhara Reddy, or YSR as he was universally called, died in a helicopter crash in 2009. Soon after his father's death, Jagan Reddy split with the Congress and formed his own party, the YSR Congress. The CBI alleges that while YSR was in office, he conspired with other ministers to influence entrepreneurs to invest in his son's companies; in return, the CBI alleges, they were granted licences and other permissions required for their businesses.
(Who is Jagan Mohan Reddy?)As part of its investigation in the case, the CBI questioned Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah for over eight hours yesterday. Mr Lakshmaiah was the irrigation minister in the YSR cabinet and he was reportedly questioned yesterday about the extra water that India Cements received.
Mr Srinivasan has so far not commented on the summons. However, a statement released by the spokesperson of India Cements Ltd said, "We have received a notice in the context of allocation of water towards expansion of capacity of two of our plants in Andhra Pradesh. Our senior officials have already met officials of department in the past and have submitted all the required information sought by them. We are confident that the matter will be resolved at the earliest since water allocation to our units was as per industrial policy of AP government."
The CBI inquiry into Mr Reddy's business empire and the source of its funds was ordered by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in August 2011. On May 27 this year, Jagan Reddy was arrested by the CBI and lodged in Chanchalguda jail, where he is under judicial custody till June 11. The 40-year-old MP has said he has been strategically jailed as part of a political conspiracy to keep him from campaigning for by-elections to 18 Assembly seats to be held on June 12.
So far, the CBI has arrested Jagan, his financial advisor V Vijay Sai Reddy (currently out on bail), former AP Minister Mopidevi Venkatramana Rao, industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad and senior bureaucrat K V Brahmananda Reddy. Apart from Mr Lakshmaiah, the agency has questioned two other AP ministers -- Sabitha Indra Reddy and Dharmana Prasada Rao -- over the government orders that allegedly benefited some companies.