Jaganmohan Reddy. File picture

Hyderabad, March 31: The CBI today chargesheeted Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in an illegal assets case along with 12 others under charges that, if proved, can keep him in jail for up to seven years.

Although the FIR the agency had filed last August under court orders named Jagan’s late father Y.S.R. Reddy as an accused, today’s chargesheet did not mention the former chief minister.

The 66-page chargesheet and 268 supporting documents were submitted to a CBI court in two trunks, the move fuelling speculation of Jagan’s imminent arrest and prompting his supporters and YSR Congress colleagues to gather at the party office this evening.

However, CBI sources said there were no immediate plans to arrest Jagan, who had arrived in Hyderabad today from a rally in Guntur.

“We are waiting for a go-ahead from Delhi in the case,” an agency official said.

The Kadapa MP, named accused No. 1, has been charged under Prevention of Corruption Act sections dealing with criminal misconduct by a public servant; acquisition of valuables by corrupt means, bribery or abuse of power; and possession of unexplained property. The lone Indian Penal Code section slapped on him is the one relating to cheating.

If the charges are proved, imprisonment can range from one to seven years.

The rest of the accused — Jagan’s associates and some companies — are charged with penal code offences such as conspiracy, cheating, forgery, falsification of accounts and criminal breach of trust, the last of which allows a prison term of up to 10 years.

The case relates to alleged favours, including land allotments, handed out by the former YSR government to individuals and companies through 26 orders. The beneficiaries are said to have invested heavily in companies owned by the Reddy family.

Andhra Pradesh High Court had asked the CBI to probe the matter in August last year following a public interest litigation lodged by a former state minister.

Two of the accused, Jagan’s chartered accountant Vijay Sai Reddy and IAS officer B.P. Acharya, are already in jail custody in connection with the case. The CBI had earlier described Vijay Sai, accused No. 2 in the chargesheet, as the main culprit.

Jagan’s party described the chargesheet as “fraudulent” and alleged it was filed in a hurry to prevent Vijay Sai from getting bail. Today was Vijay Sai’s 90th day in custody and he would have automatically received bail had the chargesheet not been filed.

Somayaljulu, the Reddy family’s income-tax counsellor, asked how the CBI could have completed its investigations without having once questioned Jagan, the accused No. 1.

The CBI has sought court permission to further investigate some companies and eight IAS officials who worked for the YSR government.

The FIR had named some 73 “bogus” companies and 15 other companies, including five overseas firms, through which the Reddys had allegedly laundered money but today’s chargesheet mentioned none of the benami companies.

Among the accused in the chargesheet are Jagan associates Srinivasa Reddy, Nityananda Reddy, Sarat Chandra Reddy, Yaddanapudi Vijayalakshmi and Chandramouli.

Also accused are the Jagan-owned Jagathi Publications, which brings out the newspaper Sakshi, infrastructure company Janani Infra and three alleged beneficiaries of land allotments: Aurobindo Pharma, Hetero Drugs and Trident Life Sciences.