The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on a plea seeking cancellation of bail granted to him way back in 2013 and exemption from personal appearance before the trial court in the cases of alleged corruption instituted between 2012 and 2014.
Issuing the notice on the plea for the cancellation of bail and exemption from personal appearance before the trial court, a bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Pankaj Mithal tagged the matter with an earlier plea seeking the transfer of trial in the cases outside Telangana, preferably in Delhi, as nothing has proceeded in these cases.
The bench posted the matter for hearing in January next year.
Advocate Balaji Srinivasan who represented the petitioner Raghu Ramakrishna Raju said that top court has been moved challenging the August 26, 2022, Telangana High Court order granting Jagan Mohan Reddy a permanent exemption from appearance in the criminal trial.
Petitioner Raghu Ramakrishna Raju has also challenged the October 28, 2022, high court order dismissing his plea seeking the cancellation of bail to Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Referring to the petition, advocate Balaji Srinivasan said it was a case where the income of Jagan Mohan Reddy saw an exponential increase after his late father Y S Rajasekhara Reddy became Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister in 2014.
The Telangana High Court, on August 26, 2022, had granted permanent exemption to Jagan Mohan Reddy from appearing before the trial court proceedings.
On October 28, 2022, the high court had dismissed the plea by Raghu seeking the cancellation of bail to Jagan Mohan Reddy. On September 8, 2022, the court had stayed the proceedings in the PMLA case until the determination of predicate offences.
Earlier on November 3, the Supreme Court had issued a notice to Jagan Mohan Reddy, Central Bureau of Investigation and others on a plea by Raghu Ramakrishna Raju seeking the transfer of cases instituted in between 2012 and 2014 outside Telangana, preferably in Delhi, as nothing has proceeded in these cases.
Balaji Srinivasan said in one FIR, 11 chargesheets have been filed by the CBI which had investigated the case.
In the earlier case in which notice was issued on November 3, besides Chief Minister Reddy and the CBI, 10 more respondents that include individuals and the companies have also been issued the notice.
The case is being sought to be transferred is pending before a Hyderabad special CBI court, advocate Balaji Srinivasan had said that adjournments have been taken 800 times.
The petitioner Raghu Ramakrishna Raju – a former member of parliament and Bharatiya Janata Party leader – in the petition seeking the transfer of case to Delhi, has alleged that the Central Bureau of Investigation has been manipulated to suit Jagan Mohan Reddy and has ensured that the criminal cases against him remain dormant and no fruitful steps are taken against him.
The transfer petitioner has alleged that the CBI is a “silent spectator” to the abuse of the process of the court. He has further alleged that both Jagan Reddy and the CBI are engaged in a friendly match.
The petitioner has alleged that Jagan Mohan Reddy has been given a free hand to simply have adjournments of trial at his instance, with no opposition by the prosecuting agency the CBI. “There are no signs of the trials starting in the cases in the foreseeable future,” he added.
The transfer petition alleged that the accused has illegally and unjustly enriched himself to the tune of Rs. 40,000 crore.
Shockingly, the state machinery 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, the petition has said.