Supreme Court notice to Andhra CM Jagan Reddy, CBI on petition seeking cancellation of his bail in corruption case
New Delhi, November 25
The Supreme Court has issued notices to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the CBI on a plea filed by disgruntled YSR Congress MP Raghu Ramakrishna Raju seeking cancellation of bail granted to him in a disproportionate assets case.
Asking the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and the CBI to respond to Raju’s petition, a Bench led by Justice Abhay S Oka directed the top court’s Registry “to place the cases before an appropriate court in the first week of January 2024, after seeking a direction from Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India.”
Earlier, the top court had asked the CBI and Reddy to respond to Raju’s plea seeking transfer of the trial of a disproportionate assets case pending before a court in Hyderabad in Telangana to a court in any other state, preferably the Patiala House Courts here. It had asked the CBI to explain the delay in completing the trial.
A Lok Sabha MP, the petitioner submitted that his conscience was shaken by the manner in which the CBI was being manipulated to the point of apathy by the state machinery “to suit the sitting Chief Minister of the state of Andhra Pradesh.”
After having “illegally and unjustly” enriched himself and various companies floated by him to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore and necessarily having caused loss to that extent to the public exchequer, the chief minister has ensured that the criminal trial against him remains dormant and no fruitful steps are taken against him, he alleged.
“Shockingly, the state machinery (represented by the respondent No.1/Central Bureau of Investigation) has been more than happy to be silent spectators to this abuse of the processes of the Courts (turning the criminal trials into “friendly matches” between accused and prosecution),” Raju alleged.
The disproportionate assets case was registered in 2012 and the CBI filed 11 chargesheets in that, resulting in 11 other cases, he submitted.
