In a big shock to the close associates of former chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy and key accused in the AP liquor scam Krishna Mohan Reddy and Dhanunjay Reddy, the Supreme Court has rejected their anticipatory bail petition. As a result, the official sources are indicating that both of them are likely to be arrested by this evening.
Both of them attended before SIT for questioning from Wednesday and they attended on Friday also. The bench that heard the matter on Friday clarified that anticipatory bail cannot be granted as the investigation into the liquor case is ongoing.
It may be recalled that both of them were key officials in CMO’s office during the previous regime and the AP High Court had previously refused to grant anticipatory bail to them. As a result, they have approached the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s verdict.
The hearing was held today before a bench headed by Justice Parthiwala. The Supreme Court opined that granting anticipatory bail in the liquor case would be tantamount to tying the hands of the investigating officer. In this context, the court ruled that anticipatory bail cannot be granted to Krishna Mohan Reddy and Dhanunjay Reddy in the current circumstances.
However, the bench advised that precautions should be taken in the investigation and that there should be no third-degree action. It said that the High Court and trial courts should decide if regular bail is applied for.
Meanwhile, both of them are struggling to answer the questions of the officials regarding the liquor scam. The investigating officials have come to a conclusion on their role in the liquor scam. Their questioning is continuing at the SIT office located in the Vijayawada CP office. With this, there are chances of arresting both of them till this evening.
SIT sources are stating that they are not cooperating in the investigation of the case and are not answering the questions asked by them. The confession statement given by Sajjala Sridhar Reddy clearly mentions the role of Dhanunjay Reddy, Krishna Mohan Reddy and Balaji Govindappa. So far, SIT teams have arrested Kasireddy Rajasekhar Reddy, Sajjala Sridhar Reddy, Govindappa Balaji, Chanakya and Dilip in this case.
Now, with the Supreme Court denying bail to Dhanunjay and Krishna Mohan, it can be said that the path to their arrest has been paved. It seems that the SIT has decided to file a petition demanding that they be immediately taken into custody along with the arrest of the two.
