Is former joint director of Central Bureau of Investigation V V Lakshminaryana, who handled high profile cases like that of YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, a mole of the Telugu Desam Party?
One has got this doubt when TDP president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu made an inadvertent reference to Lakshminarayana in his speech at Mahanadu, the TDP’s annual conclave on the second day at Vijayawada on Monday.
While attacking Jagan for his alleged corruption, Naidu said: “Even the man who had investigated into Rs 43,000 crore corruption indulged in by Jaganmohan Reddy and filed 11 charge sheets against him is also touring different parts of the state…”
The TDP president stopped at that without making further comments about Lakshminarayana, who is presently on his state-wide tour after taking voluntary retirement from the party.
Analysts viewed it as a positive comment from Naidu and suspected that he could be behind the ex-CBI officer to take on YSRC chief in the next elections.
Lakshminarayana told a media channel earlier that he had done only his duty in arresting and prosecuting Jagan as per the rules.
“I was under no political or bureaucratic pressure to arrest Jagan. There is no truth in the allegations that I was appointed in the CBI only to target Jagan, In fact, I handled more serious cases in the CBI before taking up Jagan’s case,” he pointed out.
Lakshminarayana reminded that even the CBI Special Court had approved the witnesses he had produced against Jagan's corruption.
“I had legitimately probed the case and procured witnesses and I never crossed the boundaries of my powers,” he said.
