“...there is no denying that the movers of two writ petitions, out of three, are politicians; therefore, their bona fides are very seriously questioned by the respondents contending that these petitions owe their origin to political vendetta. The contention needs to be appreciated in the light of the grievance urged in these petitions which suggests that a method was devised for a systematic swindling of the State exchequer by parting with government land through allotments, leases and licenses for various terms of duration, favouring a selected group of companies at throwaway prices and by financial misdeeds involving huge magnitude of Government largesse, corporate dealings including huge investments in lieu of disbursement and distribution of largesse, besides other benefits obtained by the investors from the State of Andhra Pradesh. When such glaring illegalities are writ large, dismissal of a public interest litigation on the ground of mala fides emanating from political motivation cannot be conceived. ‘’“Prima facie, it emerges from the record forming part of the writ petitions including pleadings of the parties that from May 2004 onwards, respondent No.52 (Jagan Mohan Reddy) floated number of companies wherein Quid Pro Quo investments have been made out of the benefits received by the investors / beneficiaries from the decisions of the State Government in various forms like SEZs, irrigation contracts, relaxation/permission for real estate ventures, mines etc. besides payment of huge premium amounts paid in the shares and invested in the companies by such beneficiaries and the money so paid is nothing but corrupt money attracting Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The investigation by the Income Tax authorities with respect to assessment orders of M/s. Jagathi Publications for the year 2008-09 shows huge unexplained cash credit. Similarly, huge escalated face value of shares to the extent of 35 times also was not accepted by the Income Tax authorities and respondent No. 52 is directly or indirectly connected with some of the companies which are showing phenomenal growth and these facts make it necessary to ascertain the role of individuals/firms/public servants in the group companies of respondent No.52.The material available supports a thorough probe and investigation in all the aspects into financial misdeeds involving huge magnitude of Government largesse, corporate dealings including huge investments as part of Quid Pro Quo arrangement for the largesse and benefit obtained by the investors from the State of Andhra Pradesh and all other aspects, and keeping in view the scope of the public interest litigation as settled by the decisions of the Supreme Court referred to above, we have confined ourselves to the considerations of prima facie satisfaction and regard being had to the manner in which the investments in the group companies of respondent No.52 have been made vis-a-vis the benefits and official favours received by the investors from the Government of Andhra Pradesh, prima facie we are satisfied that there are violations of the provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act, Prevention of Money Laundering Act apart from criminal conspiracies and commission of other related offences involving huge magnitude of investment by local and foreign companies, some located in tax haven countries, for which registration of a crime and investigation to remedy the public interest which has suffered, is just and necessary by a well-equipped and specialized agency, having expertise to handle such situations and has the credibility. Analysing as such, the most appropriate agency would be the CBI.
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