Officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have carried out searches on the offices and properties of former MP and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, on Tuesday.
According to sources, CBI sleuths from Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam conducted simultaneous searches on the former MP’s offices and properties in Guntur, Vijayawada and Hyderabad in connection with investigations into a complaint against Transstroy (India) Limited, a construction company in which the TDP leader has stakes.
Searches are also underway on the premises of top officials of Transstroy in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other states. According to the reports, this came after there were allegations that the company defaulted in the payment of loans worth Rs 300 crore to banks.
Sambasiva Rao was a five-time MP representing Narasaraopet Lok Sabha constituency and his firm bagged the prestigious Polavaram multi-purpose irrigation project contract during the previous TDP regime.
In August this year, Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government had cancelled the contracts and opted for reverse tendering for Polavaram head works and hydro-power station, claiming that there were irregularities in the project during the TDP's term.
Infrastructure major Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) later bagged the order.
The central agency’s search or raid on the TDP leaders’s properties is not new. There was a series of raids on Chandrababu Naidu's close aides Sujana Chowdary and CM Ramesh before they joined the BJP.
Recently, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), too, took notice of allegations against Sujana Chowdary in YSRCP leader Vijaya Sai Reddy's letter to the President of India. Reddy accused Sujana of involving in money laundering and tax avoidance activities.
(With Inputs from IANS)