Arrest of AP minister, industrialist likely

HYDERABAD: Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) gears up to take on Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for five days from Sunday, the agency looks more or less set for another round of action before winding up Jagan’s questioning on June 7 - it is most likely to arrest at least one minister and an industrialist.
Simultaneously, the investigating agency is likely to summon the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s aide KVP Ramachandra Rao, and industrialist Penna Pratap Reddy among others for questioning.
Top sources disclosed to Express that the CBI has reportedly got the green signal from the CBI headquarters in Delhi to go ahead with the arrest of another minister who is said to have issued GOs favouring the companies that invested in Jagan’s firms. The arrest may happen anytime next week. The minister who is likely to face arrest is among the five who were served notices by the Supreme Court a few months ago. Already, the CBI arrested minister Mopidevi Venkataramana.
Among those who were served notices are P  Sabita Indra Reddy, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, J  Geetha Reddy, Dharmana Prasada Rao and Kanna Lakshminarayana -- all of whom are alleged to have issued GOs favouring companies which invested heavily in Jagan’s business empire.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that already home minister P Sabita Indra Reddy has been served a notice by the CBI asking her to appear before the agency on Monday.
When Express contacted the minister to know whether she got a notice, she replied: “Why are you asking me? Ask the CBI.”
In fact, in the remand report of Jagan Mohan Reddy, the CBI has listed out all the GOs issued by these five ministers during the YS Rajasekhara Reddy regime.
The CBI said: “Investigation revealed that Pioneer Infrastructure Holding Limited represented by its director P Pratap Reddy, who was a close confidante and industrialist friend of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, invested huge amounts in Carmel Asia Holdings Private Limited and JPPL as quid-pro-quo for the favours received from the state government.”

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