In a major development, the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating the illegal assets case of YSRCP chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy, has named his wife YS Bharathi as one of the accused.
The ED, which recently filed a chargesheet before a special court, named Bharathi as Accused number 5 in the Raghuram Cements case, along with the other accused, asking the court to issue summons and punish them under relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Responding to the development, Jagan tweeted, "Shocked to see the reports by select media today, where my wife was named as accused by ED. Saddened to see politics degraded to such levels where even family is not spared."
In January this year, ED attached properties worth Rs 117.74 crore of three companies belonging to Indu Projects Ltd Managing Director Indukuri Syam Prasad Reddy for his alleged investments in a firm floated by Jagan.
The allegations against Jagan relate to the period 2004-2009. Jaganmohan Reddy, who was arrested in May 2012, spent 16 months in jail before he was released on bail in 2013.
The allegations suggest that Jagan Reddy, in criminal conspiracy with others, got illegally allotted a mining lease to Bharathi Cement Corporation Private Limited, and received bribes from various persons/companies in the guise of investments in his group companies as 'quid pro quo' for undue favours granted to them by the Andhra Pradesh government when Jagan's father YS Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister.
The CBI has filed 11 chargesheets against Jagan, senior government officials, and businessmen from Andhra in the 'quid pro quo' investment case.
The ED's zonal office in Hyderabad has said that it has registered a criminal case against Jaganmohan Reddy and others under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on a chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The ED said its investigations revealed that Jaganmohan Reddy laundered the proceeds of crime through his group companies Sandur Power, Classic Realty, Silicon Builders, Saraswati Power and Industries and 10 other companies in the form of investments, purchase of movable and immovable properties and third party payments etc.
IANS inputs