The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted searches at the residence of former Union Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao, also a noted film personality, and three other places here on Tuesday in connection with coal block allotment scam.
Mr. Dasari and Saubhagya Media, in which he allegedly has major shareholding, were named in the fresh FIR filed by the CBI on Tuesday in the coal scam.
The searches carried out by about 20 CBI sleuths, including a few from its Hyderabad office, headed by an officer of the DSP rank from New Delhi went on for over six hours.
The searches were also conducted on the office premises of Saubhagya Media and Siri Media in Jubilee Hills and the residence of one of his kin at Madhapur. The CBI sleuths seized some documents at all the four places and took them away.
Mr. Dasari’s residence in Jubilee Hills became a beehive of media activity as the news of CBI searches broke in the morning.
As the outside broadcast (OB) vans of national and regional news channels swarmed the otherwise peaceful locality, residents thronged the place out of curiosity.
No person was allowed to enter or leave Mr. Dasari’s residence while the searches were on. Manchu Lakshmi Prasanna, daughter of actor M. Mohan Babu, had to retreat in a huff as she was not allowed entry into the former Union Minister’s residence.
