Court reserves order on Jagan's bail plea till Sep 23

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court on Wednesday reserved its order till September 23 on the bail plea of the jailed YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in a case related to alleged quid-pro-quo investments in the companies owned by him.

The CBI opposed Jagan's bail petition contending that if the Kadapa MP is enlarged on bail, it could influence/ affect the trial in the case.

The Kadapa member of Parliament had on September 11 moved the court seeking bail on the ground that the four-month deadline set by the Supreme Court for completion of investigation by the CBI into the case against him ended on September 9.

In the bail plea, filed through his counsel, Jagan had further said that in view of the ongoing agitation in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions over the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, there was a need for him to be with the people and lead the stir as a leader of a political party.

The CBI counsel argued that "the observation of the Supreme Court pertains to completion of investigation and the petitioner (Jagan) is not automatically entitled for release on bail."

The petitioner is a highly-influential person and if he is released on bail it will frustrate the process of trial, the CBI said in its counter affidavit. After hearing the arguments and counter arguments, the court reserved its order on the bail plea for September 23. The central agency yesterday filed two more charge sheets against the Kadapa MP and others. With this, 10 charge sheets have been filed in the case till now.

Jaganmohan, arrested by the CBI on May 27 last year on charges of amassing disproportionate assets, has been lodged in Chanchalguda Central Prison here. He is in judicial remand till September 20.

The case relates to alleged investments made by private firms and individual investors in Jagan's companies as a quid pro quo for government favours when his father, late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister.

The CBI has accused Jagan of amassing huge wealth through illegal means by misusing the office of his late father YS Rajasekhara Reddy when he was Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh between 2004 and 2009.