HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court headed by Justice Ujjal Bhuyan, on Monday, reserved its orders in a quash petition filed by B Kripanandam, former Industries Secretary, who was made an accused by the CBI in the illegal assets case against AP Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy. He has urged the court to quash the case against him. On behalf of the petitioner, senior counsel MRK Chowdary said that Ambuja Cements was given the licence for five years and during that period it did not use the mines and later, sought renewal.
However, the Industries Secretary told them that according to rules, only five years of lease can be provided. After that the sole applicant left was Raghuram (Bharathi) Cements, so making allegations of wrongdoing against the bureaucrat is absurd, the counsel said. Earlier, CBI counsel K Surender said that Kripananadam acted in favour of Jagan’s Raghuram (Bharathi) Cements and awarded a lease of limestone quarry.