Trouble for Jagan Mohan Reddy: Accounts of companies frozen

May 9, 2012

jagan_mohan_reddy_frozen

Hyderabad, May 9: In a move that is expected to cripple YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has written to the State Bank of India in Hyderabd, directing it to freeze the accounts of three large parts of his considerable empire - Jagathi Publications, Indira TV and Janani Infrastructure - pending an inquiry by it. (Read: CBI's letter to the State Bank of India)

The CBI has, in its letter, said that that it is carrying out a probe on the orders of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in August last year, directing it to register a case against and thoroughly inquire into alleged financial misdeeds of Jagan. It believes that Mr Reddy, one of India's richest politicians with declared assets worth 365 crores, benefited from his father's position as chief minister. YS Rajasekhara Reddy, who died while in office in 2009, allegedly asked companies to invest in Jagan's firms and in return, they were granted licenses or other clearances.

The investigating agency has said those funds were parked in the bank accounts in the guise of conducting business. Hence, under section 102 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, it wants those accounts to be frozen and a prohibition of operations in all the three accounts.

The move comes barely 24 hours after summons were issued to Jagan and 12 others to appear before a Special CBI Court on May 28. The court has also asked 12 others facing charges in the case to appear before it on the same day.

Jagan's supporters allege that the move is politically motivated. They say that the leader's political opponents are unable to take on and deal with his growing political popularity and that this is a desperate attempt to try and stop him. They intend to challenge the order in court.

The move to freeze accounts happened even as Jagan was campaigning in Anantpur district, ahead of by-elections next month.

Meanwhile, Jagathi Publications that runs Sakshi newspaper and Indira Television that runs Sakshi TV have called this an attempt to stifle the media and an attack on the freedom of the press. They will complain to the Press Council of India. The employees of the three companies are worried about what will happen to them.

Political analyst K Nageswar says that while the CBI is acting within the law in freezing the accounts, notices should have been issued prior to the action and economic flexibility should have been allowed pending the probe, since there are only allegations as yet to be tried in a court of law.

The special CBI court had admitted the first chargesheet filed on March 31 by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case and listed the case for trial.

Accordingly, summons were issued to Jagan, the prime accused in the case, and the other accused.

The summons were issued on a day when the CBI, probing the case against Jagan and the others, submitted its third chargesheet in the court. The 88-page chargesheet was filed after examining 72 witnesses.

The CBI also booked 73 companies and individuals, alongwith Jagan, on the directions of the High Court. Others named in the chargesheet include Jagan's close aide Vijay Sai Reddy, Jagati Publications Private Limited (JPPL), Ayodhya Rami Reddy, IAS officer Venkatrami Reddy, and Ramkey Pharma.

The third chargesheet contains details of undue favours granted to a company called Ramky Pharma during YSR's regime. Ramky Infra has been accused of depositing a huge sum of money in the accounts of Jagati Publications owned by Jagan Reddy.

Vijay Sai Reddy was arrested by the CBI on January 2. The Vice-President of JPPL is also an auditor for many other companies of Jagan.

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Agencies
May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: As India ranked 10th in the global infection list, overtaking Iran, which was an early hotspot of coronavirus, India's top medical body has said the human trials of COVID-19 vaccine may begin at least in six months.

Dr. Rajni Kant, Director Regional Medical Research Centre and Head at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said, "The virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) laboratory in Pune will be used to develop the vaccine, and this strain has been successfully transferred to the Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (BBIL). It is expected that the human trials of the vaccine will begin in at least six months."

Queried on the focus areas as India inches closer to 1.4 lakh COVID-19 cases, Kant said we should not get anxious about the rapid increase in numbers, especially in the past week, which saw 5,000 Covid-19 cases daily, instead focus on protecting the most vulnerable group.

"We should not fear from increasing Covid-19 cases. The elderly and people with comorbidities need protection. This is the highly vulnerable group, and we need to deploy resources and develop strategies to keep the mortality rate as low as possible in this group," said Kant.

Initially, it was assumed that the country would require thousands of ventilators, but last week, the health ministry said only 0.45 per cent of COVID-19 cases need ventilator support.

Kant insisted the focus should be on five per cent to 10 per cent serious patients. "We are testing more than one lakh daily and our case fatality rate is already one of the lowest in the world. In absence of vaccine, people should follow social distancing guidelines," he added

On the significance of the recovery rate, Kant said the increasing recovery rate of the COVID-19 patients, which is at 41 per cent, is a bright spot in India's fight against deadly viral infection.

Queried on large scale COVID-19 cases in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad, Kant said the population density in these regions is very high, which proves to be the just right environment for the viral infection.

He insisted on developing robust cluster management strategies in the hard-hit coronavirus spots, and the movement of people should be curtailed in these areas.

"Currently, a lot of people are moving around easily and avoiding social distancing norms. The first phase of the lockdown was very effective, but now things have changed," added Kant.

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News Network
January 31,2020

Jan 31: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday hailed the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act as "historic" in his address to joint sitting of both houses of Parliament, prompting protests by some opposition members.

He also said that debate and discussion on any issue strengthens democracy while violence during protests weaken it.

"The Citizenship Amendment Act is a historic law. It has fulfilled wishes of our founding fathers including Mahatma Gandhi," he said.

"Debate and discussions strengthen democracy, but violence during protests weaken democracy," he said without directly referring to the anti-CAA protests in the country some of which have witnessed violence.

In a reference to abrogation of Article 370, Kovind said there is happiness among people of India that people in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh have got rights on par with the rest of the country.

The president said Parliament has created record in the first seven months of the new government headed by Narendra Modi by enacting several landmark legislations.

"My government is taking strong steps for making this decade as India's decade and this century as India's century," he said.

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News Network
July 4,2020

New Delhi, July 4: India on Friday reported its highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases with 22,771 cases reported in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With these new cases, India's coronavirus cases tally has gone up to 6,48,315, out of which there are 2,35,433 active cases in the country and 3,94,227 cases have been cured/discharged or migrated.

As many as 442 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the last 24 hours taking the number of patients succumbing to the deadly virus across the country to 18,655.

As per the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst affected state due to COVID-19 -- has a total of 1,92,990 cases which is inclusive of 8,376 deaths. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu, the second worst-affected state, has a total of 1,02,721 cases and 1,385 fatalities. Delhi's tally of coronavirus cases stands at 94,695 which is inclusive of 2923 deaths due to the virus.

The Centre said that the recovery rate has further improved to 60.80 per cent. The recoveries/deaths ratio is 95.48 per cent : 4.52 per cent.

The Indian Council of Medical Research, earlier on Saturday, said that the total number of samples tested up to July 3 is 95,40,132, out of which 2,42,383 samples were tested yesterday.

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