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CBI searches rebel YSRC MP Raghurama Raju’s offices, residences in alleged ₹826-cr bank fraud
Searches were being conducted in 11 locations, including at Hyderabad, Mumbai and West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh and the office and residential premises of Raghurama Krishnam Raju in Secunderabad, in Ranga Reddy district and other areas, the CBI said .
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches on the properties of rebel YSR Congress party MP Kanumuri Raghurama Krishnam Raju for allegedly duping a consortium of banks led by Punjab National Bank of ₹826.17 crore.
Searches were being conducted in 11 locations, including at Hyderabad, Mumbai and West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh and the office and residential premises of the borrower in Secunderabad, in Ranga Reddy district and other areas, the CBI said in a statement.
Raju, a parliamentarian from Narasapuram in West Godavari district, is the chairman of Ind-Barath Thermal Power Limited, and is facing allegations of causing an alleged loss of ₹826.17 crore to a consortium of banks led by Punjab National Bank.
“It was alleged in the complaint that the accused had cheated the Punjab National Bank led consortium banks by way of diversion/siphoning off bank funds etc. We have booked a case and investigation is continuing,” the CBI statement said.
The CBI searches on the offices and residential premises of Raju came in the wake of his revolt against the YSRC led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the last few months.
In July, the YSRC petitioned Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla seeking Raju’s disqualification from his membership for defying the party discipline, after he challenged the show-cause notice served on him. Since then, he has been attacking the YSRC leadership almost every day.
In April 2019, too, the CBI conducted searches in the residences and offices of Raju for alleged loan default of over ₹947 crore. The CBI charged Raju’s company with taking loans worth over ₹2,655 crore from three non-banking financial companies -- Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd.
The loans were taken for establishment of a 666 MW coal-based thermal power project in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. It was alleged that the company defaulted in payments of ₹947 crore which turned into non-performing assets.
