Telangana HC Rejects Rebel YSRC MP’s Plea Seeking Cancellation of Bail To Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy In CBI Case

A Single Judge Bench of the Telangana High Court comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyam has rejected the petition filed by the Rebel YSRC MP Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju seeking cancellation of bail granted to Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the case registered against the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The criminal petition was filed before the High Court of Telangana after the special CBI Court rejected the prayer of YSRC MP Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju to cancel the bail granted to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The CBI court had rejected the petition on the grounds that the MP had not placed any record to show that the Chief Minister was threatening the witnesses either directly or indirectly by using police machinery.

Further, the names of the witnesses to show who was being threatened or induced by the Chief Minister were not placed on record. The CBI Court noted that no material was placed before the court to prove there was a misuse of bail granted to the Chief Minister.

The counsel for the petitioner argued before the High court that all the witnesses are under the control of CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and the witnesses being bureaucrats are serving in the administration. He argued that though there cannot be any direct instances of threatening witnesses by the CM, however, there is indirect threat and allurement of the witnesses which may affect the fair trial and therefore the bail should be canceled.

The High Court after referring to various decisions which were decided on the cancellation of bail by the Supreme Court rejected the prayer of the petitioner while noting that

“Petitioner has not mentioned the names of the witnesses, whom respondent No.2 has allegedly intimidated or allured. Merely saying that respondent No.2 has been abusing his official position by giving important posts/offices to other co-accused to tamper evidence by influencing witnesses is not adequate to cancel the bail granted to respondent No.2.”

Further, the High Court took objection that no material was placed on record to show the violation of bail conditions and noted that

“Further, saying that respondent No.2 has no regard for democracy and judiciary is no ground to cancel the bail granted to respondent No.2. The supporting affidavit is conspicuous by complete absence of any details whatsoever essential for considering a prayer for cancellation of bail. No single instance of violation of the bail conditions has been mentioned by the petitioner.”

The case registered by CBI against the Current Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was registered in 2012. It was alleged that the current CM of Andhra Pradesh had exercised undue influence over his late father Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, the then Chief Minister of the State of Andhra Pradesh to confer illegal benefits to accused to certain people for allotment of land and in return, bribes were paid to Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy in the form of buying shares in his companies at a highly inflated price as quid pro quo

Case Title: Kanumuru Raghu Ramakrishna Raju vs CBI & Anr.