HC reserves orders on Naidu's petition

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday reserved its ruling on a petition of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu to overturn an order for a probe by the CBI and other agencies into his assets. After hearing the arguments of YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Vijayamma, the division bench of Justice G. Rohini and Justice Asutosh Mohunta reserved the order on petitions of Naidu, media baron Ramoji Rao and others.

The court on Tuesday passed interim orders, staying the probe against Naidu and 12 others. The division bench also reserved its order on the petitions of former chief minister N.T. Rama Rao's widow Lakshmi Parvathi, Jagati Publications Limited vice-chairman Vijay Sai Reddy and others, who opposed Naidu's petitions.

Vijayamma's counsel Susheel Kumar submitted arguments against petitions of Naidu and others, and urged the bench to vacate the interim stay.

The bench on Tuesday declared that Nov 14 order of another bench would be in abeyance till the petitions by Naidu and Eenadu Group chairman Ramoji Rao were finally disposed of.

The high court on Nov 14 directed CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to conduct preliminary inquiry into the assets of Naidu and others. The agencies were asked to submit the reports to the court within three months in sealed covers.

The court also ordered the probe against 13 others, including Naidu's wife N. Bhuvaneswari, companies owned by her, son N. Lokesh, TDP MP and industrialist Sujana Chowdary, Ramoji Rao, film actor Murali Mohan and the companies owned by them.

The orders came on a writ petition of Vijayamma, widow of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who alleged that Chandrababu Naidu, during his nine-year rule (1995-2004) amassed huge wealth by misusing power and defrauding the state exchequer.

Naidu and others moved the Supreme Court, arguing that the high court passed its order without issuing them notices. However, the apex court directed them to file their vacate petitions before the high court.