Raghu Rama Krishna Raju moves Telangana HC over plea to cancel Jagan's bail

Hyderabad, Sep 14 : The Telangana High Court deferred to Wednesday its orders on YSRCP rebel MP Raghu Rama Krishna Raju's plea for transfer of his petition seeking cancellation of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's bail in an alleged corruption case to another court.

He moved the High Court a day before the CBI court was scheduled to pronounce its orders on the petition.

The court is also scheduled to pronounce on Wednesday orders on another petition filed by Raju seeking cancellation of bail of Jagan Mohan Reddy's close aide and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) parliamentary party leader Vijay Sai Reddy.

Raju sought interim orders to stop the CBI court from pronouncing its orders on his petitions. He brought to the High Court's notice that even before the CBI court was to pronounce its orders, a media house owned by Jagan, as the Andhra Chief Minister is popularly known, flashed that the court dismissed the petition to cancel Jagan's bail.

On August 25, the CBI court deferred its orders to September 15. It had earlier reserved its orders on July 31.

Raju, the Narsapur MP, has sought cancellation of bail granted to Jagan in a disproportionate assets case registered by the CBI against him on the ground of alleged violation of bail conditions.

He filed the petition in April this year, voicing the apprehension that Jagan may try to influence the witnesses in the case. He also cited Jagan's non-appearance before the trial court and seeking exemptions as violations of bail conditions.

In his petition, he also cited the appointment of accused IAS officer Y. Srilakshmi as a Special Chief Secretary and retired IAS officer and co-accused M. Samuel as an advisor to the government.

The MP stated in his petition that since all the witnesses cited by the prosecution in the quid pro quo case have now become subjects of Jagan, he will influence them not to depose against him before the trial court.

Jagan, who became Chief Minister in May 2019, has been seeking exemptions from weekly court appearances citing his constitutional duties.

The allegations against Jagan relate to the period 2004-2009, when his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) probed the allegations that Jagan, in criminal conspiracy with others, received bribes from various persons/companies in the guise of investments in his group companies as 'quid pro quo' for undue favours granted to them by the then Andhra Pradesh government.

Jagan was arrested in May 2012 in the DA case when he was an MP. In 2013, the special CBI court had granted conditional bail to him, after he spent 16 months in jail.