The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is likely to serve notices on India Cements, Penna Cements and Dalmia Cements on Friday, summoning their representatives to appear before it some time next week.
A CBI official, when contacted, declined to name these representatives, but said they were proposed to be questioned in connection with the cases of disproportionate assets filed against Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
The BCCI president N. Srinivasan is the managing director of India Cements Limited, a company that has been under the CBI’s scanner this week over its allegation that there was a quid pro quo with Mr. Reddy for favours received from the government. The investigating agency is trying to make out a case that India Cements invested Rs. 5 crore in M/s Carmel Asia Holdings by purchasing shares at a huge premium of Rs. 252 per share.
In lieu of this investment, India Cements got its land renewed in Kadapa district and was permitted to draw 10 lakh gallons of water from the Krishna and 13 million cubic feet of water from Kagna river for its manufacturing plants, the CBI said.
A senior Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah, who was Irrigation Minister in YSR’s Cabinet, was grilled for nearly eight hours by the CBI on Thursday over the government’s orders granting permission to draw the water.
Penna Cements is being investigated by the CBI in connection with the allotment of large extents of government land and prospecting licences for limestone in several districts of Andhra Pradesh. Dalmia Cements was said to have made investments into Bharathi Cements owned by Mr. Reddy.
