“YSR never asked me to do anything illegal and I never ordered anyone to do anything wrong. I haven’t influenced anyone else. Even Jagan Mohan Reddy never called me up or in that matter, he didn’t call any official in Chief Minister’s Office,” M.G.V.K Bhanu said. “I didn’t deal with all the subjects in the CMO. If anyone points any wrongdoing in the issues I dealt with then I am ready to answer. There were several other officials in the CMO who dealt with the other subjects. “I am a man of character and integrity. In my 26 years as an IAS official I have never faced any probe or allegations. Here too I was called as a witness. Even the Guwahati High Court, while appointing an inquiry officer in a case, had observed that I was an honest and sincere officer. I have worked under two CMs and YSR did not know me from before.

“Because I was vocal and talked authoritatively and since my physical appearance is big, there is a false impression that I was everything in the CM’s office. I was not the boss then. It was Jannat Hussain who was the boss,” said Mr Bhanu. “I have been seeing lot of stories in the media about me which are false. I never dealt with the mining subject. I never spoke to her (Y. Srilakshmi) regarding mining and I didn’t ask her to do anything.”