YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday failed to get any reprieve from the Andhra Pradesh High Court, which directed that he be in CBI custody for five days for further questioning in an alleged disproportionate case.
The High Court also dismissed Jagan's petition seeking directions to declare his arrest as illegal. Justice B Chandra Kumar issued orders that the CBI can question Jagan from June 3 to 7.
After three days of intense grilling, Jagan was arrested by the CBI on May 27 and the next day the CBI court sent him to judicial custody till June 11. He is now lodged in the Chanchalguda Central Jail.
"When highly influential persons are involved in the case, CBI, as part of its investigation, has a right to take the accused into custody and question them," Justice Chandra Kumar said while pronouncing the order.
A CBI court on Friday dismissed Jagan's petition for interim bail. He had sought bail at least till June 10 so that he could campaign for the June 12 by-elections to one Lok Sabha and 18 assembly seats.
The investigating agency can take the custody of Jagan and the accused can be questioned between 10.30 AM to 5 PM, the order said.
Whatever procedure was applied when Vijaya Sai Reddy was questioned when he was in CBI custody, same procedure has to be followed in case of Jagan also, the High Court said. Vijaya Sai Reddy who is currently on bail was earlier given CBI custody after he was arrested in January.
The CBI registered FIR against Jagan and 74 others on August 17, 2011 in the case of illegal assets and alleged flow of illegal investments into his business empire and registered cases under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 477A (falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code, besides Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.