Thaindian News

Hyderabad, Aug 13 (IANS) A senior cabinet minister and two bureaucrats of Andhra Pradesh were among 14 accused named by the CBI in its fourth charge sheet in the illegal assets case against YSR Congress Party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.

Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao and senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers Manmohan Singh and M. Samuel were named the in the 177-page fourth charge sheet filed in the principal special court for CBI cases on Monday.

The Central Invetigating Agency (CBI) has placed Prasada Rao as the fifth accused in the charge sheet, which also named former minister Mopidevi Venkataramna as the fourth accused.

Jaganmohan Reddy, the Lok Sabha member from Kadapa, tops the charge sheet followed by his aide and auditor Vijay Sai Reddy.

Others include industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, Mopidevi, Dharmana Prasada Rao, former Special Secretary K.V. Brahmananda Reddy, Manmohan Singh, M. Samuel, Nimmagadda Prakash, VANPIC Projects Private Limited, Jagati Publications, Bharati Cement, Carmel Asia Holdings and Silicon Builders.

The charge sheet relates to the alleged irregularities in the allotment of land and other concessions to Vadrevu and Nizampatnam Ports and Industrial Corridor (VANPIC) project in Prakasam and Guntur districts.

Prasada Rao was revenue minister in the cabinet of then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and allegedly favoured VANPIC in land allotment. According to CBI sources, the charge sheet was filed under sections 120B, 409, 419, 420, 468, 471 and 477A of the Indian Penal Code.

The investigating agency submitted to the court 284 documents in support of the charges against the accused.

The CBI had arrested Excise Minister Mopidevi Venkataramna in May on the charges of showing undue favours to VANPIC, whose promoter Nimmagadda Prasad made investments into the companies owned by Jaganmohan Reddy, son of the then chief minister Rajasekhara Reddy.

Mopidevi was infrastructure investment minister in Rajasekhara Reddy’s cabinet. He resigned as minister on the day he was arrested by the CBI. Jagan, Nimmagadda Prasad, Mopidevi and Brahmananda Reddy are currently lodged in the Chanchalguda Central Jail.

The CBI believes Rajasekhara Reddy’s government issued as many as 26 orders favouring various companies and individuals who made quid-pro-quo investments into Jagan’s businesses.

Dharmana Prasada Rao said he would react after going through the charge sheet.

“You are saying that my name is there in the charge sheet. I will react after seeing what is there in the charge sheet and what are the charges,” he told reporters at the airport here.

Prasada Rao left for New Delhi amid reports that he would meet the central leaders of the Congress party to clarify his position. Main opposition Telugu Desam party has demanded the minister’s resignation.

“If the minister fails to resign, the chief minister should sack him,” said TDP leader D. Veerabhadra Rao.