ED attaches Ramky assets in Andhra Pradesh

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached Rs143.74-crore worth assets of the Ramky group for alleged involvement in the disproportionate assets case of Kadapa MP Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.

The agency has attached about 135.46 acre of land, a deposit of about Rs3.20 crore in a mutual fund and a fixed deposit of Rs10 crore in Jagati Publications, all worth Rs143.74 core in Ramky’s Pharma City near Visakhapatnam.

Ramky allegedly benefited from the regime of Jagan’s late father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy (or YSR who died in a chopper crash while chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in September 2009).
The investigators have been claiming that Ramky had invested in Jagan’s businesses in lieu of benefits  doled out to them during the YSR regime.

The ED has already attached Rs51 crore worth of assets of privately held pharmaceutical company Hetero Drugs in the disproportionate assets case.

The agency, and the Central Bureau of Investigation, have been probing the allegations against Jagan under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Foreign Exchange Management Act.

The CBI documents state that Ramky received a benefit of Rs133 crore by cutting down on the green belt area at its Pharma City near Visakhapatnam, only to allot the additional land to the city for gains.

The investigating agency has found that Ramky was allowed to reduce the green belt area from 973 acre in the pharma city to about 59 acre. This deviation, approved by the then government, is estimated to have resulted in a direct benefit of about Rs133 crore to Ramky.

In return, Ramky promoters had agreed to invest about Rs10 crore in Jagan’s media entity Jagati Publications through two front companies, the CBI alleged.