HC foils Jagan’s bid to delay CBI grilling

YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s move to delay his interrogation by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case suffered a setback as the Andhra Pradesh high court on Wednesday dismissed his petition on this.

YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s move to delay his interrogation by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case suffered a setback as the Andhra Pradesh high court on Wednesday dismissed his petition on this.

The petition had sought that the questioning be postponed to June 15.

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With the court order, Reddy will now have to appear before the agency on May 25 — something he wanted to avoid because of the bypolls to one Lok Sabha and 18 assembly seats on June 12.

On May 22, a team of CBI officials served notice on the Kadapa MP, who was campaigning in coastal Andhra, asking him to appear before it on May 25 for questioning on the case.

The CBI has taken up the investigation on the orders of the high court.

On Wednesday Reddy’s lawyers moved a petition on the grounds that he was “unavailable due to the ongoing election campaign”.

There was also some relief for Reddy as the court lifted the freeze on the bank accounts of three firms owned by him. However, it imposed certain conditions on the maintenance of accounts, saying all transactions were to be by cheque and no property should be sold until the case was completed.

On May 8, the CBI, which is investigating the source of funds and other aspects of Reddy’s business empire, had written to different banks, ordering the freezing of all accounts.

The CBI has reportedly frozen 11 current accounts in different banks in Hyderabad with

Rs 11 crore balance, besides fixed deposits of Rs 103 crore.

With PTI inputs