n a major set back to CM Jagan Mohan Reddy, the CBI special court in Nampally has dismissed his petition seeking exemption from personally attending the court proceedings. Jagan’s advocate S Niranjan Reddy had earlier appealed to the CBI special court to exempt Jagan from appearing personally to court as he is in a constitutional position and to discharge his duties as the Chief Minister of a state.
Interestingly, Jagan’s lawyer Niranjan Reddy raked up a valid point that the state government is spending Rs 60 lakh on every visit of the Chief Minister Jagan to the CBI court. He stated that the expenditure of the Chief Minister convoy, his security protocol and other bureaucratic procedures are taking a toll on public exchequer. He appealed to the court to consider these and sought the court to allow the accused to be represented through his lawyer.
This is not all. Jagan’s lawyer Niranjan Reddy further said that his client CM Jagan is not seeking ‘complete extemption’ from attendance to court but would appear before the court whenever it was required. He claimed that his client is a law-abiding citizen and he had not sought any special relief in the entire trial process. However, heated argument took place between CBI counsel and Jagan’s counsel. Jagan’s counsel had even raised its objection over the use of ‘language’ against CM Jagan. Jagan’s lawyer Niranjan Reddy has asked the CBI counsel to ‘respect’ his client as he is a Chief Minister.
CBI’s special public prosecutor Surender Rao argued that the accused, who in a constitutional position, could influence the witnesses as he had tried similar methods earlier. After hearing both the parties for a while, finally Justice BR Madhusudhan Rao has given verdict in favour of the CBI. This is seen as a big blow to CM Jagan. CBI counsel said the trail is reaching final stage and granting him exemption from attending court at this juncture would lead to ‘influencing’ of witnesses.
This is not first time Jagan’s petition to exempt personal attendance was dismissed. Earlier, Jagan had filed a similar petition twice when he was the main opposition leader in AP Assembly. After the trial court dismissed the petition, Jagan had moved the then Hyderabad High Court. Justice M. Satyanarayana Murthy of the High Court too dismissed the petition in 2017. Jagan’s lawyer then had argued that he has to do Padayatra where he would tour the State and meet people to listen to their grievances.
Jagan is facing several cases related to DA (disproportionate assets) filed by the CBI since 2012. Jagan had been in jail for 15 months before 2014 and since then, has been appearing before the court every Friday. Now Jagan is the CM of AP, so it is becoming extremely difficult for him to schedule official meetings and official appointments. Apart from that, CM Jagan has to take CBI court’s permission whenever he has to visit New Delhi or to go abroad.
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