Justice B. Chandra Kumar of the AP High Court on Tuesday sought to know from the CBI on what basis it had found that Rs 1172 crore was pumped into Sakshi media house owned by Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. The judge was hearing the pleas of Jagathi Publications challenging the freezing of its bank accounts.
The judge also sought to see relevant material to prove its accusation. CBI counsel P. Kesava Rao replied that he would get instructions in this regard from the CBI authorities. The judge asked him to furnish the relevant information on Wednesday. Counsel for the petitioners C. Padmanabha Reddy pleaded that his clients be permitted to operate the accounts to run the media house and assured the court that they will not withdraw fixed deposits of Rs 102 crore lying with the banks. He said his clients were prepared to offer some immovable property as security to operate the bank accounts. He said that Sakshi receives Rs 443 crore per annum through advertisements, circulation and scrap sales while the company spent Rs 220 crore on newsprint and Rs 137 crore on salaries.