Hyderabad, May 27: The CBI arrested Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy this evening in the illegal assets case, after grilling him for eight hours on his third straight day of questioning at the agency office.
Reports had earlier suggested the Kadapa MP might be arrested tomorrow when he has to appear at a CBI court. However, around 3pm today, police began detaining workers of his YSR Congress across the state and put some 10 to 15 party leaders under house arrest.
Jagan would spend the night at the CBI camp office before being produced in court tomorrow and, in all probability, would then be taken to the Chanchalguda jail for undertrials, sources said.
YSR Congress spokesperson Jupudi Prabhakar Rao said the arrest was a conspiracy by the Congress and the main Opposition, Telugu Desam Party, to ensure that Jagan did not campaign for the June by-elections.
The bi-elections, necessitated principally by the resignation of 17 Congress MLAs, who have joined the YSR Congress, are being seen as a test for Jagan to prove that he has emerged as a challenger to the Congress and the Telugu Desam.
Some others in the two principal parties, too, have been defying their bosses to stand by Jagan. When Jagan left his home for the CBI office, he was accompanied by Congress MP Sabbam Hari, Congress MLAs Alla Nani and Ranga Rao, and Telugu Desam MLA Bala Nagi Reddy.
The administration has taken precautionary steps to pre-empt violent protests. Public gatherings had already been prohibited under Section 144 in Hyderabad and Kadapa; now the orders have been extended to Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam too.
As protest meetings began in Kadapa, the police asked state and private transport officials to take all their buses off the roads. Some 1,000 additional police personnel have been deployed in Kadapa district and Jagan's hometown of Pulivendula.
Stray violence, such as stoning of buses, has been reported from Rajahmundry in East Godavari district where Jagan has a large following, and from Kurnool and Vijayanagaram.
In Hyderabad, the police forced workers to vacate the YSR Congress headquarters in Jubilee Hills. Security has been beefed up at the CBI court and the homes of Jagan, CBI judge Pullaiah, and Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.
The CBI alleges that when Jagan's late father Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was chief minister, he abused his office to help his son amass a fortune. It says YSR's Congress government granted illegal favours to businessmen who, in a quid pro quo, invested huge sums in Jagan's loss-making companies.
In a deviation from usual, the CBI today allowed Jagan to have his auditor and aide Vijay Sai Reddy with him during the questioning. The questions included some about Calcutta-based companies that had invested in Jagan's Jagati publications, sources said.
Former excise minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, who was a minister in YSR's government too, has been arrested in connection with the case. So have been three businessmen and four bureaucrats.
Rao was rushed to Care Hospital from the Dilkhusha guesthouse today after he complained of chest pain and uneasiness, but was brought back after doctors said he was fine.
