CBI court permits ED to quiz 9 jailed in Jagan, OMC, Emaar cases

HYDERABAD: A CBI Court on Tuesday permitted the Enforcement Authority sleuths to question and record the statements of those accused and now jailed in the probes pertaining to YSR Congress president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, former Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and Dubai-based realty firm Emaar.

The move comes close on the heels of the court permitting ED to obtain the charge sheets filed by the premier investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigation in the three probes.

The ED has sought to question the accused for the alleged violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and Foreign Exchange Management Act.

In all, the court has permitted ED to question nine persons accused in the three high profile probes, currently lodged in the Chanchalguda Central Jail in Hyderabad.

However, the court is yet to permit ED to question Jagan as he was not arrested in the case when ED filed the petition and he did not figure in the list ED sought. Gali Janardhan Reddy was not included in the ED list as he is currently in a jail in Bangalore.

In Jagan’s case, ED can now question businessman Nimmagadda Prasad and bureaucrats Brahmananda Reddy and BP Acharya. The agency will quiz Srinivas Reddy, co-promoter of Obulapuram Mining Corporation of Gali Janardhan Reddy, and bureaucrats Y. Sri Laxmi and Rajagopal.

In the probe pertaining to Emaar, the ED is allowed to grill Jagan’s key aide Sunil Reddy, businessman Koneru Prasad, bureaucrat BP Acharya and senior Emaar official Vijaya Raghava.

Jagan was accused of amassing huge wealth by misusing the office of his late father YS Rajasekhara Reddy when he was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh for six years till September 2009.

The CBI has accused Gali Janardhan Reddy of resorting to large scale illegal mining and export of precious iron ore in the borders of AP and Karnataka, causing huge losses to exchequer.

In the third probe involving Emaar, the investigating agency has accused the Dubai firm of duping the AP government in a joint venture realty project by colluding with public servants.

Meanwhile, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths have arrested the suspended CBI court judge T. Pattabhi Rama Rao for allegedly accepting over Rs 10 crore to grant bail to iron ore barn Gali Janardhan Reddy.

The suspended judge was produced before the ACB court and sent to 14 days of judicial custody to Chanchalguda Central Jail, where all the accused arrested in the three probes are lodged.