Hyderabad: The ACB on Tuesday in Vijayawada arrested Rajeev, the son of Andhra Pradesh former minister Jogi Ramesh, for his alleged involvement in the purchase and sale of Agri Gold land that the CID seized in the past.
Ramesh, during his tenure as a minister in YS Jaga Mohan Reddy's cabinet, was alleged to have manipulated survey numbers in Ambapuram near Vijayawada to expedite the registration of Agri Gold land in his family's name.
CID had taken up a probe into the Agri Gold Ponzi scheme scam after the promoters failed to provide returns to the depositors a few years ago. During the investigation, CID discovered large tracts of real estate purchased by Agri Gold promoters and confiscated all of them.
Later, the government auctioned a few properties. Ramesh alleged that it was an illegal arrest as part of vendetta politics by the TDP-led NDA government. In a case involving an attack on chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu's house three years ago, Ramesh was the prime accused.
Following complaints, ACB recently registered a case on nine people, including Ramesh's son and his brother, as well as several government officials, and took Rajeev into custody on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the YSRCP denounced Jogi Rajeev's arrest and slammed Naidu for implementing the "Red Book Constitution" while misusing power for Vendetta politics. Speaking to the media outside the ACB office, Ramesh condemned the actions of the government, terming them personal vendettas by political rivals, and questioned the rationale behind targeting his family. He flayed the TDP for using "Red Book Constitution" tactics and urged the government to shift the focus back to election promises rather than indulge in diversionary politics.
Former Minister Perni Venkatramaiah (Nani) echoed these sentiments, stating that the government is filing false cases and conducting illegal arrests without due process. He claimed that the arrest of Jogi Ramesh's son was part of a broader strategy to intimidate and harass YSRCP members.
Nani vowed that the party would fight back both legally and politically, highlighting plans to challenge the harassment in court. Other leaders, including former ministers Velampalli Srinivas and Merugu Nagarjuna, as well as MLC Lella Appi Reddy, expressed their support for Jogi Ramesh and his family, condemning this act as unjust targeting of a former minister from the BC community.