Jagan probe will take 3 months: CBI

Investigation into the alleged illegal assets case of Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy would take three more months to complete, the outgoing director of Central Bureau of Investigation AP Singh said Tuesday. The agency has so far filed four chargesheets in the case and the last one would be filed before March 2013.

Talking to mediapersons in Delhi days before he is to retire, Singh said “the letters rogatory have been sent to different countries for information and the process is continuing”.

Asked whether there was any pressure with regard to the Jagan probe, Singh, who will soon hand over charge to Ranjit Singh, said the investigation was being held under the direct supervision of the High Court and the Supreme Court. “There is no pressure on the CBI and the agency is working with commitment and honesty,” he said.

Meanwhile, the YSR Congress party retorted that even after six months of Jagan’s arrest, the CBI has not been able to frame the charges, raising serious doubts about the arrest itself and whether the agency is functioning as a puppet in the hands of the central government.

“The CBI seeking three more months to complete the investigation is outlandish and against its own manual which gives 90 days to complete the process of any investigation. Even six months after arresting Jagan Mohan Reddy, CBI saying that it needs three more months investigation is outrageous,” party spokesperson Jupudi Prabhakar Rao told reporters here.

He alleged that the ruling Congress and main opposition TDP have ganged up to settle political scores against Jagan, whose popularity has become an eyesore to both. “The government has given a clean chit to cabinet minister Dharmana Prasada Rao and said that the cabinet has acted as per the provisions of the law while issuing 26 GOs. This tantamounts to a lack of quid pro quo case and if so, why YS Jagan is in jail is a question that needs to be answered sooner or later,” he said.