YSR party outs CBI director’s phone list

YSR Congress MLAs protest in the Assembly premises on Thursday.

YSR Congress MLAs on Thursday demanded a probe by a Supreme Court judge into an alleged “conspiracy” behind the arrest of their leader Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Accusing CBI joint director V.V. Laxminarayana of leaking information and planting stories in one section of the media before affecting the Kadapa MP’s arrest, YSR Congress MLAs staged a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on the Assembly premises. They released a list of calls made by Mr Laxminarayana to various reporters and also to one Vasireddy Chandrabala, said to be a former techie of Hyderabad.

YSR Congress leaders demanded why the CBI joint director called up media personnel in clear violation of the CBI manual. They also wanted to know who Ms Vasireddy Chandrabala was and why she had called him repeatedly. They alleged that the CBI joint director did not act fairly and had conspired with some parties with vested interests and had arrested Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy a few hours before attending court.


YSR party smells a rat in jail blackout:


There was a 12-hour blac-kout on Thursday at the Chanchalguda Central Prison where several high-profile undertrials including Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and former minister Mopidevi Venkatramana are lodged. As news of the blackout spread, supporters of the YSR Congress chief started a rumour that it was a conspiracy to eliminate Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy. The power cut was rep-orted in the early hours of Thursday at the prison. Jail officials said one of the phases in the new prison block had developed glitches but power was restored by pulling a line from the old prison block which is empty.

Power problem resolved, says jail in-charge:


In-charge superintendent of Chanchalguda prison, Venkateshwar Reddy said, “We immediately addressed the problem by disconnecting the third phase from the old prison block and connecting it to the new prison block which holds all the inmates. The electricity department rectified the problem by Thursday evening. “There was no issue about the security of the inmates, including the special prisoners, being compromised. The charges are baseless.” Mr Jagan’s wife Bharathi Reddy had filed a petition in the HC seeking security for her husband in jail but the authorities had submitted a report stating that security was given to special category prisoners as per norms.

Mumbai Mantralaya fire: CM, Deputy CM offices gutted

Mumbai: A major fire broke out in Maharashtra state secretariat on Thursday afternoon. The fire was reported from the cabin of Maharashtra state minister and NCP leader Babanrao Pachpute. Several people are reported to be trapped inside the building.
According to Relief Works Minister Patangrao Kadam, the fire broke out due to a short circuit.
While two people have been admitted to a hospital due to suffocation, several others are still trapped inside the building.

Thick smoke was seen outside the windows of the fourth floor of the building and no causalities have been reported so far.

The offices of Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, the Deputy Chief Minister and the Chief Secretary have been gutted by the fire. Chavan, it was reported, was not present in his office at the time of the incident.
Though reports suggested that files related to the Adarsh Housing Society scam could also be lost in the fire, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) dismissed them saying the files were safe in their possession.
Sixteen fire tenders were rushed to the spot and efforts have been on to douse the fire. Navy helicopters and anti-terrorist unit force one have also been rushed for the rescue operations.

Maharashtra Chief Secretary ordered immediate evacuation of the entire building, sources said.
Thousands of officials at Mantralaya, which houses the state Secretariat, were seen standing outside as fire fighters battled the blaze, which was suspected to have been caused by a short-circuit.

State Forest Minister Patang Rao said, "I am confident that all the important files will be safe and intact."
The eyewitnesses said that the fire broke out around 3 pm and now the area has been cordoned off.

Jagan served ED notice in prison

The Enforcement Directorate issued a notice to Kadapa MP Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday for recording his statement in Chanchalguda prison after his counsel refused to accept the same.

The ED had earlier filed a plea in the Special Court for CBI cases to record Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s statement in jail regarding his illegal investments case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The court had directed the ED to serve the notice on the YSR Congress chief’s counsel Ashok Reddy but he refused to accept the same. Following this, the court asked the ED to serve the notice on the Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy himself at Chanchalguda prison and the ED’s counsel served the notice later in the day.

The ED had earlier filed a plea seeking to record the MP’s statement as former director and chairman of M/s Jagathi Publications. The firm had been named Accused No. 12 in the first chargesheet filed by the CBI in the case. The court had posted the matter for further hearing to June 25.

Jagan case: CBI grills BCCI chief N Srinivasan for 7 hrs

HYDERABAD:

The CBI on Monday sought to know from N Srinivasan, MD of The India Cements Ltd, the logic behind his decision to invest Rs 90 crore in rival cement company Bharati Cements when the latter was in the hands of Jaganmohan Reddy.

Srinivasan, who also happens to be the chairman of the BCCI and owner of IPL team Chennai Super Kings, was summoned by the probe agency as part of its ongoing investigation into the Jagan assets case and was questioned for more than seven hours at the CBI's makeshift office at Dilkusha Guest House on Raj Bhavan Road. The probe agency sought to know certain details about how India Cements managed to secure huge additional water allocations for its plants in Nalgonda and Rangareddy districts from the YSR regime. The CBI's charge is that the YSR regime allotted water from Kagna and Krishna rivers for these two plants which crossed the quota allotted to Andhra Pradesh under the Bachawat award. In return for the water allocations, India Cements invested Rs 135 crore in Jagan's companies, the CBI alleged.

Responding to the CBI query about why he invested in another cement company, Srinivasan reportedly maintained that his decision to invest in Jagan's Bharati Cements paid off in the ultimate analysis as he made a huge profit by selling his shares when Jagan sold his cement firm to a French player. The CBI wants to unravel as to why not only India Cements, but two other cement companies, Penna Cements and Dalmia Cements, also chose to invest in a rival cement company. Its contention is that all these three firms were given limestone mines and huge water allocations. The CBI is said to be done with the questioning of India Cements MD on Monday and that it will be the turn of the MDs of the other two companies to be quizzed beginning Tuesday.

Sources said the role of three ministers in the alleged benefits doled out by the YSR regime to the three cement companies will come under CBI scanner.

The investigating agency is slated to probe whether then revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao allotted huge tracts of land containing limestone to these companies and whether former irrigation minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah cleared the additional water allocations. The role of then mines minister Sabita Indra Reddy in granting mining licenses to these cement firms for extracting limestone will also be examined.

State questions CBI probe into Adarsh scam

Mumbai, June 19, 2012:


For the first time, the Maharashtra government has questioned the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the Adarsh Co-operative Housing Society scam, before the Bombay high court.     On Monday, Anil Sakhare, special counsel, suggested the CBIcould not have initiated the probe without the consent of the state, especially in the wake of the two-member panel’s finding that the land on which the high-rise at Cuffe Parade stands belonged to the state government.
“The CBI came into the picture only because of the presumption that the land belonged to the defence forces,” Sakhare said. When the division bench of justice SA Bobde and justice Mridula Bhatkar asked whether he was questioning the CBI’s jurisdiction to probe the case, the senior advocate replied: “Unless requested by the State of Maharashtra.”

“The Commission has given a finding that the land belongs to the State of Maharashtra, and therefore, it’s (the whole case) a state subject,” Sakhare added. “Say clearly that the CBI cannot investigate the matter, if it is your stand,” the judges then said.