CBI grills officials of Vijayalakshmi Minerals

HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths on Thursday grilled officials of Vijayalaxmi Minerals Trading Company, owned by YS Vijayalakshmi, and Bharati Cements.
Vijayalaxmi Minerals Trading Company was started by YS Raja Reddy, father of YSR, in 1980 to trade in barytes and dolomite. Later, the company moved into limestone business and secured a mining lease for limestone over an extent of 15.30 acres in S.Nos.17/P and 43/2 of Gunakanapalli village, Lingala mandal, Kadapa district in the year 2000.Several mining licenses were granted to this company during the YSR regime, said CBI sources. In her recent Pulivendula election affidavit, Vijayalaxmi had declared that she had shares worth Rs 61.65 lakh in Vijayalakshmi Minerals Trading Company.
The CBI is probing allegations of links between Raghuram Cements (now called Bharati Cements) owned by Jaganmohan Reddy and Vijayalakshmi Minerals. The CBI is probing whether Jagan passed off the limestone deposits belonging to Vijayalakshmi Minerals as that of Bharati Cements and then sold the company to a French firm for a huge premium.
On Thursday, the CBI also raided the residence of Lagadapati Sridhar and his company, Jubilee Media. Sridhar, brother of Vijayawada Congress MP Lagadapati Rajagopal, invested about Rs 50 crore in Jagan’s companies. The CBI team visited both the residence and office premises of Sridhar and quizzed him for about one hour. Jagan group vice chairman Vijaya Sai Reddy also appeared before CBI officials for the sixth consecutive day on Thursday and submitted the information sought by the agency.
Meanwhile, the CBI announced that it will begin questioning the owners of plots and villas in Emaar Hills Township from September 14 as part of its probe into the APIIC-Emaar land deal. Everyday, eight people will be asked to appear before the CBI along with their bank transaction details with Emaar. Some personalities like Namrata Sirodkar (wife of actor Mahesh Babu), N Brahmani (TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu’s daughter-in-law), Kotagiri Suneetha and minister J Geeta Reddy will be questioned at their residences, the CBI sources said.
The CBI is probing whether Jagan passed off the limestone deposits belonging to Vijayalakshmi Minerals as that of Bharati Cements (owned by him) and then sold the company to a French firm for a huge premium.