CJ recuses self in Naidu case

HYDERABAD: In an unexpected turn of events, Chief Justice Madan B Lokur of the AP High Court on Thursday recused himself from hearing the case pertaining to the alleged illegal assets of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and his associates, transferring the hearing to another division bench. Entry of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) in the case was cited as the reason behind the recusal as the jurist said he owned shares in the Mukesh Ambani-owned company.

Later in the day it was decided to list the case before a bench headed by Justice V Eswaraiah who will hear the matter on Friday.

RIL had filed a petition on Wednesday urging the court to implead it as a party to the case as certain allegations had been leveled against the company by petitioner YS Vijayamma. In her petition, the widow of late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy and the Pulivendula YSR Congress MLA said she had sought a thorough probe into the alleged 'omissions and commissions' that took place during the Naidu regime.

She also alleged that RIL was unduly allowed to access gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin by the Naidu regime and that the company, in a quid pro quo deal, had made investments to the tune of Rs 2,600 crore in Ushodaya Enterprises. Ushodaya Enterprises is the group that publishes Eenadu newspaper. Claiming that the newspaper group's owner Ch Ramoji Rao was a close friend of Naidu's, Vijayamma made the media baron and Eenadu respondents in the assets case. Naidu and his associates have challenged the preliminary probe ordered by HC.

Although the petitioner did not make RIL a party to her petition, the bench had indeed made a prior observation as to why the company had not been included in the litigation when serious allegations about proxy investments in Eenadu newspaper had been leveled against it. In response, RIL impleaded itself in the case on Wednesday.

During Thursday's hearing, Naidu's counsel urged the CJ to stay the ongoing CBI probe till a new bench was constituted. But the CJ assured him that he would entrust the matter to a new bench immediately and ensure the resumption of the hearing by Friday, thus declining to pass any interim order as sought by the counsel.