YSR Congress president YS Jaganmohan Reddy will have to wait for some more time to come out of nearly a year-long imprisonment in Hyderabad’s Chanchalguda jail as the Supreme Court has reserved its orders on his fresh bail petition.
Jaganmohan Reddy, who was arrested by the CBI on May 27 last year in disproportionate assets case, continues to be in jail as the CBI has opposed all his bail petitions so far.
The apex court concluded the hearing of the arguments of the counsels for Jagan as well as CBI on why he should be granted the bail or not.
While in its counter-argument the CBI said that it needs six more months to complete its probe into Jagan’s disproportionate assets and his sources of funding, Jagan’s counsels Harish Salve and Mukul Rohtagi argued that the CBI was misleading the courts by taking contradictory stands in Andhra Pradesh High Court and Supreme Court on keeping Jagan in custody. They questioned the need for denying the bail to Jagna nearly a year after he was arrest. They described it as a political vendetta.
The Supreme Court had issued a notice to the CBI last week asking why Jagan should not be released on bail to which the CBI filed the counter on Monday. It reiterated its argument that releasing Jagan at this juncture will not be in the interest of the investigation as he could try to influence the witnesses.
The CBI court in Hyderabad has already extended Jagan’s custody till May 13.
The other high-profile accused in Jagan’s disproportionate assets case include his financial adviser and auditor Vijay Sai Reddy, former Minister M Venkat Ramanna, industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, and bureaucrat KV Brahmananda Reddy. All except Vijay Sai Reddy were in Chanchalguda jail.
The CBI has filed several chargesheets against Jagan and others. It charged that Jaganmohan Reddy had misused the power of his father, Chief Minister YS Rajashekhar Reddy to favour certain companies and got investment into his companies as quid pro quo.
Jagan’s supporters in Hyderabad, who were expecting a favorable order from the Supreme Court on Monday were disappointed over the court reserving its judgment and were still hoping that Jagan will be released on bail.