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5 years on, no headway in attack on Jagan case; accused still in jail
The NIA countered the argument of the chief minister that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the attack on him and urged the court to dismiss his petition
Thirty-four-year-old Janipalli Srinivas Rao alias Srinu, a Dalit man from Andhra Pradesh’s Dr B R Ambedkar Konaseema district, is in jail five years after he reportedly attacked now Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy because of legal intricacies.
On October 25, 2018, Srinu, a small-time worker at a restaurant in Visakhapatnam airport, attacked YSR Congress Party president Reddy, who was the leader of opposition, with “kodi kathi” (a small knife used in cockfights).
Srinu was immediately apprehended by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel at the airport and sent to judicial remand later in the day.
For a two and a half months between May 23 and August 6, 2019, Srinivas had been confined to the barracks of Rajahmundry central jail, before being shifted to Visakhapatnam central jail in July this year.
The incident, which triggered a major political uproar in the state then, fetched huge mileage to Jagan in May 2019 assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. The case, which was initially probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police, was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The trial had been conducted in the Special Court for NIA cases in Vijayawada since January 2019. The NIA filed the charge sheet on January 23, 2019. After a thorough investigation that went on for nearly four years, the agency told the court on April 13 this year that there was no conspiracy behind the knife attack on Jagan.
The NIA countered the argument of the chief minister that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the attack on him and urged the court to dismiss his petition. On July 25, the NIA court dismissed Jagan’s plea for a probe into a larger conspiracy.
Senior advocate Inakollu Venkateshwarlu, who argued the case on behalf of Reddy in the court, said the NIA investigation into the case had skirted many crucial issues. “It has not given any clean chit to the accused, Srinu, but only said the investigation could not establish the charges framed against him.”
Venkateshwarlu said the NIA had not submitted major documents before the court, like forensic examination of the CCTV camera footage of the restaurant within the airport premises and analysis of the biometric attendance system.
He pointed out that the CCTV footage showed Srinu boiling the knife in water and the biometric system showed his name was not there among the kitchen crew members on that day. “How he could enter the airport premises with a knife, without recording his attendance in the biometrics has to be probed,” the advocate said.
He said the NIA had seized the CCTV footage and the biometrics from the local police only in July 2019, seven months after it began the probe, and submitted the same to the court without any analysis.
“The NIA said there was no prior criminal record of Srinu and hence, he could be given the benefit of doubt. There was no case against him in Visakhapatnam, but there was certainly a case in Mummidivaram police station in the past. He should not have been given access to the airport at all,” Venkateshwarlu said, adding all these issues should be thoroughly probed to unearth the conspiracy theory.
Senior lawyer Abdus Saleem, who has been arguing the case on behalf of Srinu, said, “The case more or less came to the concluding stage, as the NIA presented the versions of all the witnesses and the accused – Srinu. Only the statement of the victim – Jagan Mohan Reddy -- was pending to be recorded, so that the court could deliver its judgement. But the chief minister has been avoiding appearing in the court.”
According to his legal team, Jagan sought exemption from personal appearance in the court on the ground that he has to discharge his duties as the chief minister and also on the ground that his appearance in the court may lead to traffic jams around the court premises, inconveniencing people. The chief minister requested the court to appoint an advocate commissioner to record his statement.
Even as the case was getting adjourned due to non-availability of Jagan to depose before the NIA court, it was transferred to a newly formed special court for NIA cases in Visakhapatnam on August 1, on the ground that the incident happened in that city.
On October 12, Jagan filed a petition in the high court, challenging the dismissal of his plea by the NIA court for a comprehensive probe into the knife attack. Justice Sreenivas Reddy bench of the high court, which admitted the petition on October 17, adjourned the hearing of the writ petition filed by chief minister Reddy in the knife attack case to six weeks.
The high court also granted an interim stay on further hearing in the case by the NIA court in Visakhapatnam for eight weeks. It also directed the NIA court to file a counter to the petition filed by Jagan.
What happened that day
Srinu, who is the sixth of the seven siblings of a poor Dalit family at Thanelanka village of Mummidivaram block in Konaseema district, was working at Fusion Foods restaurant in Visakhapatnam airport, when the incident happened.
Jagan, who had been on his marathon padayatra across the state, was waiting at Visakhapatnam airport on October 25, 2018, to board a flight to Hyderabad, when Srinu attacked him with a small knife used in cockfights.
The YSRCP president, who sustained a small bleeding cut on his left upper arm, continued his journey and got admitted in a hospital in Hyderabad. The then Telugu Desam Party government led by N Chandrababu Naidu handed over the case to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police, but Jagan refused to record his statement before the police saying he had no trust in agencies controlled by the state government.
The YSRCP moved the state high court, seeking a probe by a central agency into the case. Based on the court direction, the Centre handed over the case to the NIA on December 31 and the agency registered the case on January 1.
The NIA has slapped Section 3A(1)(a) of the Civil Aviation Act (The Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation Act, 1982) and also under Section 307 of the IPC for attempt to murder.
The agency filed a charge sheet in the Special Court for NIA cases in Vijayawada on January 23, in which it said Srinu, while seeking a selfie with Jagan, took out a knife from his trousers right pocket and attacked the YSRCP chief with the intention of stabbing him in the neck, but instead inflicted an injury on his upper left arm.
“Srinu was granted bail on May 23, 2019 and was released on May 25, but with the state high court cancelling the bail, he was back in jail on August 6. Since then, he has been languishing in jail as an under-trial prisoner,” said Saleem, who took up Srinu’s case on humanitarian grounds.
His 75-year-old mother Savithri, who is eking out her livelihood by enrolling herself as a worker in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) in the village, has written to the authorities to see that her son is granted bail.
“How long should my son suffer in jail? We are waiting for the trial to be completed. We want him to be convicted at the earliest or let out on bail. How can he be kept in jail without any trial for years?” she asked.
His brother Subba Raju, who is also a manual labourer, said Srinu had not attacked Jagan intentionally. “It happened unexpectedly. He was a diehard fan of Jagan and maybe he thought it would get him publicity. Moreover, it was a small injury and Srinu has been languishing in jail for five years,” he said.
Raju said he, along with his mother and brothers, made attempts to meet Jagan and request him to do justice to Srinu. “Yes, it was a mistake on his part to attack the chief minister. We want him to pardon my brother. We wanted to meet him when he came Amalapuram recently, but we were kept under house arrest. We have nowhere to go,” he said.
Saleem said bail petition of Srinu would come up before the NIA court, Visakhapatnam on Friday. “If the bail is rejected, we shall move the Supreme Court,” he added.
