In a big shot in the arm for the YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh, a Central Bureau of Investigation court in Hyderabad on Monday granted conditional bail to its president and Member of Lok Sabha YS Jaganmohan Reddy in disproportionate assets case.
The court ordered that Jagan should be released on two sureties of Rs 2 lakh each and should also give undertaking that he will not leave Hyderabad without permission of the court. The CBI court has also warned Jagan not to influence or induce any witness.
The court told the CBI that if Jagan violates any of the conditions, it was free to approach the court for the cancellation of the bail.
Jagan, who was arrested by the CBI on May 27, 2012 in connection with its probe in to his alleged disproportionate assets, spent nearly 14 months in Chanchalguda jail as his numerous bail petitions were rejected by the lower court, high court and even the Supreme Court.
This time he got lucky as the CBI informed the court that it had completed the investigation in to the disproportionate assets case in accordance with the orders of the high court.
During its massive investigation, the CBI had filed 10 charge sheets with thousands of supporting documents about the financial dealings of his companies with other companies, mainly relating to the investments and the flow of funds.
The CBI charged Jagan with cheating, corruption, money laundering and misuse of power during his father Rajasekhar Reddy’s rule in Andhra Pradesh.
Apart from Jagan the names of his financial advisor Vijay Sai Reddy, industrialists Nimmagdda Prasad, Srinivasan, former minister Mopidevi Venkatramanna and ministers Sabita Indra Reddy, Dharmana Prasad Rao, J Geeta Reddy and Indian Administrative Service officers B P Acharya, Samuel and many others figured in the charge sheets.
The companies from whom Jagan’s first got the investments as qui pro quo include Aurobindo Pharma Ramky Group, Dalmia Cement and India Cement, Penna Group, Lepakshi Knowledge Hub, Indu Group and Indu Techzone.
Jagan was also facing charges of cheating individual investors to the tune of Rs 34.65 crore. The CBI also alleged that Jagan had impoverished the public exchequer to the tune of several thousand crores and enriched himself through illegal means.
The CBI alleged that the investments by these companies in to various firms owned by Jagan including Jagathi Publications and Bharati Cements, were quid pro quo for the favors extended by the YSR government to them.
Of the 10 companies about which the high court had asked the CBI to probe, Jagan’s links could be established with only two companies, the CBI told the court.
The CBI had strongly opposed Jagan’s latest bail petition saying by his own admission he was an influential person and could frustrate the process of fair trial. But the court did not agree with its views.
With the news of Jagan getting the bail spreading, Jagan’s supporters broke in to celebrations outside his residence and the party office in Jubilee Hills, at the court premises in Nampally.
The reports of similar celebrations were also coming from Kadapa and Pulivendula where his supporters took out processions, burst crackers and distributed sweets.
Jagan had moved a fresh bail application before the CBI court hearing his case on the ground that as president of YSRCP he need to be with the people when they were agitating against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
But the court condition that he should not go out of Hyderabad will come in the way of his getting involved in the agitation in support of united Andhra Pradesh.
