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CBI court dismisses plea seeking cancellation of Jagan’s bail
The CBI court also dismissed a separate petition filed by Raju seeking cancellation of bail of Jagan’s close aide and YSRCP parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy, who is the second accused in the alleged case.
Hyderabad A special court for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases, dismissed a petition seeking cancellation of bail of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in connection with the alleged quid pro quo case pending against him, in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The petition was filed by Kanumuru Raghurama Krishnam Raju, a rebel Lok Sabha member of YSRCP from Narasapuram in West Godavari district in April this year. Raju requested the CBI court to cancel the bail granted to Jagan on the grounds that the latter had violated the bail conditions and was trying to influence the witnesses in the CBI case against him.
The CBI court also dismissed a separate petition filed by Raju seeking cancellation of bail of Jagan’s close aide and YSRCP parliamentary party leader V Vijay Sai Reddy, who is the second accused in the alleged case.
The court, which completed the hearing of arguments from both the sides on July 31, reserved its judgement for August 25, but later postponed it to September 15.
In 2012, the CBI filed a case against Jagan alleging that he had, in a criminal conspiracy with others, received bribes from various companies and individuals who had invested in his group companies as a ‘quid pro quo’ deal for securing undue favours from the then combined Andhra Pradesh government headed by his father late Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy during 2004-2009.
Simultaneously, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also filed cases of money laundering against Jagan.
The CBI arrested Jagan in May 2012 and he was in jail for 16 months, before being let off on bail in September 2013. He became the chief minister of residuary Andhra Pradesh in May 2019.
Raju contended in his petition that Jagan had tried to influence several officials, who were co-accused in his case, by posting them in key positions such as chief secretary, special chief secretary, principal secretary and advisor to the government.
He also pointed out that after becoming the chief minister, Jagan had been avoiding attending the trial in the CBI court on the pretext that he was preoccupied with his Constitutional responsibilities. “As a result, several witnesses mentioned by the CBI in the charge-sheets have not been able to come forward to depose against him in the trial court,” he argued.
The CBI court disagreed with the arguments of the rebel YSRCP MP that Jagan had violated the bail conditions.
The court observed that there was no complaint from any of the witnesses stating that Jagan tried to intimidate them or influence them after coming to power. It also felt that Raju’s apprehensions were purely hypothetical and not substantiated by any material evidence.
Reacting to the CBI court’s judgement, the rebel MP said he would challenge it in the high court. “If I don’t get justice in the high court, too, I will move the Supreme Court,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the Telangana high court dismissed a petition of Raju requesting for transfer of his petition seeking cancellation of Jagan’s bail from the CBI special court to another criminal court, on the suspicion that the judgement could have been leaked to Sakshi, the media house owned by the chief minister.
The high court found fault with the MP for not trusting the CBI court. It observed that the reasons cited by Raju for seeking the transfer of case to another court lacked any merit.
