HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation has asked principal special judge for CBI cases in Hyderabad to cancel the bail granted to YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy three years ago in a disproportionate assets case. The court last week sought a response from the politician and posted the case to April 7 for further hearing.
The CBI cited a condition in the bail order that prohibits Jagan from influencing witnesses in the case. CBI DIG V Chandrasekhar moved a petition claiming this condition was violated by media owned by Jaganmohan, namely Sakshi TV channel and Sakshi Telugu newspaper on February 26, 2017. It said they had telecast and published on that date an interview with former AP chief secretary P Ramakanth Reddy in which the ex-bureaucrat, despite being a witness for the CBI in the Vanpic and Indutech Zone chargesheets in the case, “spoke against the prosecution.”
“In a bid to accommodate and shield the accused in the case, Ramakanth made unwarranted statements with regard to the investigation and also about the fate of the case at the trial,” The CBI petition said. He “admittedly” stated that the chargesheets in the Jaganmohan case would not withstand judicial scrutiny. In his plea, the CBI DIG said there were several ulterior motives behind Ramakanth's statement on the arrests of IAS officers and his scepticism about the fate of the cases, particularly when the cases were still pending and the trial court had even taken cognisance of the chargesheets.
