Hyderabad, November 14: The Andhra Pradesh High Court Monday ordered preliminary investigations by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and other agencies into the assets of former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Ghulam Mohammed and Justice N. Ramamohana Rao asked the CBI, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to submit to court, their reports within three months in sealed covers.
The court ordered the probe against 13 others including Naidu’s wife N. Bhuvaneswari, companies owned by her, Naidu’s son N. Lokesh, TDP MP and industrialist Sujana Chowdary, media baron Ramoji Rao, film actor Murali Mohan and the companies owned by them.
The court passed the orders on a writ petition filed by Y.S. Vijayalakshmi, the widow of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, seeking a probe into the alleged ‘illegal assets’ of Naidu.
Vijayalakshmi, a legislator of YSR Congress party, alleged that Naidu, during his nine-year rule (1995-2004), amassed huge wealth by misusing power and defrauding the state exchequer.
The petitioner alleged that Naidu amassed wealth by misusing his power using Ramoji Rao as a conduit.
While admitting the petition, the bench opined that the petitioner made out a case of misuse and abuse of power by Naidu.
The court directed the investigating agencies to take into consideration the material supplied by the petitioner that runs into 2,000 pages.
The agencies were asked to submit reports within three months, after which the court would further consider the matter.
The petitioner’s counsel told reporters that the court ordered the probe into corruption, misuse of power, ‘benami’ (proxy) assets, land encroachments and money laundering.
She alleged that Naidu owned benami assets including a hotel in Singapore and land near Hitec City in Hyderabad. The petitioner also said he leaked cabinet decisions to help Murali Mohan, Ramoji Rao and others.
The court had ordered a similar probe by CBI against Vijayalakshmi’s son and YSR Congress president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in July this year following petitions filed by TDP leaders and state minister P. Shankar Rao.
After the CBI submitted its preliminary report in a sealed cover, the high court in August ordered full-fledged probe into the assets of Jaganmohan Reddy, MP from Kadapa.
—-IANS—