Jagan not a forger: CBI

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The CBI admitted in the AP High Court that YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was not connected with falsification of government records with regard to allotment of land and extending benefits to the Vanpic project promoted by industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad. The admission came during a hearing on the bail plea of Mr Prasad. Justice Samudrala Govindarajulu, who was hearing the petition, closely questioned CBI counsel.

The judge wondered how the alleged falsification of government records by Mr Prasad could be attributed to Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy. He cautioned CBI counsel on several occasions to not repeat the contents of the chargesheet as this was not a trial court, and asked him to confine himself to the grounds for not granting bail to the accused. When counsel replied that he was trying to state facts of the offence, the judge said that the arguments must satisfy the court, not the higher-ups of the CBI.

CBI counsel contended that it was Mr Prasad who got the concession agreement and Cabinet memorandums modified unofficially to the detriment of the state. He said that the Vanpic case was mainly the handiwork of Mr Prasad. CBI counsel said Mr Prasad invested huge amounts in Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy’s firms in exchange for benefits extended to Vanpic by the YSR government.

When CBI counsel told the court how Mr Prasad managed to keep the entire 24,000 acres of land of the industrial corridor outside the purview of the government, the judge asked whether Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy had any role to play in this. CBI counsel replied in the negative. The judge said he had his own methods of extracting the truth from advocates through research. “I don’t rely solely on what you say or what your chargesheet says,” Justice Govindarajulu said. Arguments in the matter will continue on Thursday.