Aurobindo Pharma in CBI net for Jagan links

Aurobindo Pharma is under Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) scanner for alleged links with Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, MP and son of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

In addition to the company as an entity, its managing director K Nityananda Reddy and the company secretary P S Chandramouli too have been named as accused by the investigation agency in the disproportionate assets case filed against Jagan.

CBI has been probing allegations that Jagan had misused powers during his father’s tenure as chief minister and accepted bribes in a quid pro quo arrangement with various corporate entities in lieu of various relaxations including land allotment.

CBI had earlier arrested Vijai Sai Reddy, Jagan’s auditor and a director in Jagan’s businesses.

Following the arrest, it filed a charge sheet in a Hyderabad court on Saturday naming 13 accused including Jagan and Vijay Sai Reddy.

Aurobindo Pharma, which has been named as Accused No 3 (A-3), is accused of getting land allotted for its unit in an SEZ at a cheaper rate and contravening several rules.

For instance, Aurobindo and its group companies were allotted about 75 acres in an SEZ near Hyderabad by the then government at Rs7 lakh an acre as against the Rs15 lakh price fixed by a committee on pricing of land. Aurobindo is accused of colluding with the officials of the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation in getting the land allotted and also getting it transferred to its group companies.

CBI tried to establish the quid pro quo in the transaction by pointing at the Rs10 crore investments made by Aurobindo managing director Nityananda Reddy’s wife Rajeshwari, son Prasad Reddy and a closely held entity Trident Lifesciences in Jagathi Publications, which is owned by Jagan.

Interestingly, the CBI has also named P Sharathchandra Reddy, son of Aurobindo’s founder chairman P V Ramprasad Reddy, as an accused (A-8) in the charge sheet. Reddy, the MD of Trident Life Sciences and a non-executive director of Aurobindo, is accused of deriving undue benefits from the then government, only to reciprocate by investing about Rs7 crore in Jagan’s business at a premium of Rs350 per share.

Apart from the key shareholders of Aurobindo, the CBI has named P S Chandramouli (A-11), Aurobindo’s company secretary, for giving false declarations on behalf of the pharma company.
The chargesheet has also named Hetero Drugs, yet another pharma company from Hyderabad, for participating in a quid pro quo arrangement with Jagan. M Srinivas Reddy, its director, has been named as A-6 in the chargesheet.

Hetero was allotted 75 acres in an SEZ at discounted price and had in turn invested about Rs19.5 crore in Jagan’s businesses.
For the record, Hetero had shot into fame at the peak of swine flu in India as the licensee of tamiflu patent holder Roche and the only company authorised to manufacture and sell the anti-swine flu drug in India.