Andhra HC orders CBI probe into Jagan's wealth

Andhra HC orders CBI probe into Jagan's wealth

HYDERABAD: In a significant development, the Andhra Pradesh High Court Tuesday ordered a preliminary inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged amassing of huge wealth and money laundering by YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.

A division bench of Chief Justice Nisar Ahmed Kakru and Justice Vilas V. Afzalpurkar asked the CBI to complete the probe in two weeks and submit the report to the court in a sealed cover. The court said the final hearing would take place after the receipt of CBI report.

Hearing a petition on the basis of a letter written by Congress leader P. Shankar Rao, now a minister, the court felt that prima facie inquiry is necessary to clear the doubts.

Shankar Rao in January had written a letter to the high court seeking probe by CBI into the "ill-gotten" wealth of Jagan, as Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy is popularly known.

Accusing the son of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy of "amassing public money" during his father's reign and committing several violations of laws of the land, Shankar Rao said the Kadapa MP indulged in money laundering by floating fictitious firms and routing the "black money" through some companies in Mauritius.

Rao alleged that Jagan's income which was only Rs.11 lakh in March 2004, had now gone up to Rs.43,000 crore.

Opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader K. Yerran Naidu and others had also filed the petitions seeking CBI probe against Jagan.