Jagan submits bail plea to SC

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YSR Congress president and Kadapa MP Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday moved the Supreme Court for bail in the disproportionate assets case after the Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissed his petition last week. While Mr Jagan Reddy has challenged the High Court’s July 4 verdict on at least 19 grounds, his main focus centres on the alleged “misuse” of CBI due to “political reasons”. Alleging that the CBI “failed to show a shred of proof” against him, the petition says he had fully cooperated with the investigators before arrest.

According to the petition, the CBI also “failed” to show to the court any evidence to support its charge that he would “tamper” with evidence. In judicial custody at present, Mr Jagan Reddy got the services of a battery of lawyers, including senior advocate Aman Lekhi, who settled the special leave petition for bail and are trying to get it included in the mentioning list for early hearing, possibly on Tuesday. Other counsels — Gopal Shankaranarayanan and Santhil Jagadeesan — are preparing the case to ensure that the SC takes it up at the earliest.

According to the petitioner, CBI has been probing his case for more than nine months and did not consider his arrest necessary even after filing three chargesheets. But the agency suddenly became hyperactive due to apparent “political reasons”, he stated. The Kadapa MP petitioned the apex court to judge “whether, merely by virtue of being in public life, the petitioner is disqualified from basic rights available to an accused under Article 21 of Constitution, or whether an application of bail can be rejected merely on the basis of the status of accused”. In his petition, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy said, “The petitioner respectfully submits that he will abide by all conditions as may be imposed on him by SC.”

ED officials visit Jagan to serve notice
A team of Enforcement Directorate officials served a notice to Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at Chanchalguda prison informing him of the court’s direction to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

It is believed that two ED officials visited Chanchalguda prison to serve the notice. The special court for CBI cases granted the permission to ED to record Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s statement under PMLA and FEMA. The ED will record his statement as the former director of Jagathi Publications on July 13. It had earlier informed court that Rajeshwar Singh, the deputy director of ED, will head the team. Meanwhile, Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s party seems to be gathering the support with leaders from various parties jumping fences to join hands with the YSR Congress. The latest is Kodali Nani, the suspended TD MLA from Gudivada. Mr Nani visited the Kadapa MP at Chanchalguda prison.