CBI summons YSR's close aide in Jagan case

In a key development in the disproportionate assets case against YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned a close aide of his late father and Congress MP KVP Ramachandra Rao for questioning. KVP, as he is popularly known, has been asked to appear on Saturday morning, the CBI sources said. Currently a member of the Rajya Sabha, KVP was a close aide of late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, during whose tenure (2004-09), Jaganmohan Reddy, his son, allegedly amassed huge wealth. The CBI believes YSR showed undue favours to certain companies and individuals who invested in his son's businesses. KVP's rivals both within the ruling party and also in opposition have been alleging that as the government advisor, he played a key role in government decisions to allot lands and extend other concessions on quid pro quo basis. They have long been demanding a CBI probe on KVP's role. This is the first time that KVP was called by the CBI since registering a case against Jagan and 73 others in 2011 following the probe ordered by the Andhra Pradesh High Court on a petition by some Congress and Telugu Desam leaders. Jaganmohan Reddy, a member of parliament from Kadapa, was arrested by the CBI last May along with then state minister Mopidevi Venkatramna, industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad and others. The investigating agency has already filed four chargesheets and it has informed the court that seven matters relating to investments in Jaganmohan Reddy's companies were currently under investigation. The CBI had last year recorded KVP's statement in the Emaar case, relating to defrauding the state government in a joint venture with Emaar Properties. KVP stood behind Jaganmohan Reddy after YSR died in a helicopter crash in 2009. He, however, distanced himself from Jaganmohan Reddy once the latter challenged the Congress leadership and floated his own party.