File photo: Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy
In what comes once again as an embarrassment to the Kiran Kumar government in Andhra Pradesh, state's Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy has been named accused number four in the latest chargesheet filed in the Jagan Mohan Reddy disproportionate assets case.
The fifth chargesheet filed on Monday evening by the CBI has 62 pages, 53 documents and says they had examined 46 witnesses. It has named 13 accused including Jagan Mohan Reddy as accused number one. The other accused are Vijay Saireddy, Dalmia Cements MD Puneet, state Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy, suspended IAS officer Srilaxmi, former mines director VD Rajagopal, and other officials of Raghuram Cements, Ishwar Cements and Dalmia Cements.
This is the third minister of the Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinet to be named in chargesheets filed by the CBI. Mopidevi Venkatramana resigned soon after his name came up and was arrested immediately afterwards and sent to Chanchalguda jail in May last year. Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasad Rao was named accused number 5 in the chargesheet relating to Vanpic projects in August last year. He sent in his resignation but that was not accepted. The cabinet subsequently decided to back the ministers named in the Jagan case and provide them legal assistance.
Opposition parties say it is unacceptable that those named as accused in the chargesheet continue in the Kiran Kumar Reddy Cabinet.
Sabita Indra Reddy is the first woman Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh. She was often referred to as 'chellamma' or younger sister by Jagan's father YSR Reddy, who died in a chopper crash in 2009, and often his pet schemes would be launched from her constituency of Chevella in Ranga Reddy district. Sabita has been named for her alleged actions of omission and commission during her stint as mines minister. She has distanced herself from controversial decisions of that time, saying she was in the dark about the contents of certain files in her ministry.