The AP High Court has refused to grant protection from arrest to then Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy’s secretary K. Dhanunjaya Reddy, OSD Krishnamohan Reddy and Bharathi Cements director Balaji Govindappa in the liquor scam case. It has made it clear that no interim orders can be given at this stage in view of the public prosecutor seeking time to submit details.
They approached the High Court seeking anticipatory bail, saying that the accused in the liquor scam case, Raj Kasireddy and Chanakya, had mentioned their role in the remand report. Therefore, they were worried that they would be arrested.
When the cases came up for hearing on Friday, Public Prosecutor Menda Lakshmi Narayana presented arguments on behalf of the CID. The cases have come up for hearing for the first time. They requested to be given time to submit the details. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, representing Dhanunjaya Reddy, responded.
The judge Justice T. Mallikarjuna Rao, who recorded the arguments of both sides, ruled that no order could be passed at this stage, granting protection. It was announced that the next hearing would be adjourned to the 7th of this month. However, Vikas Singh intervened and said that if they were arrested before the next hearing, their cases would be rendered futile.
They were given notices to appear for hearing. If they did not appear, there was a risk that the prosecution would not grant them bail on that ground. Therefore, they requested to be granted protection from arrest. The senior advocate was told not to obstruct the court hearing process.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has issued notices to the AP state government on a petition filed by Raj Kasireddy, the main accused in the liquor case. He approached the Supreme Court challenging the issuance of a notice under CrPC 160 to him in the liquor case.
The petition was heard on Friday by a two-judge bench of Supreme Court judges JB Parthiwala and Justice Mahadevan. The petition stated that the AP CID police did not have the jurisdiction to issue notices to him as he is a resident of Telangana.
The court, which conducted the hearing, issued notices to the AP government, SIT and Mukesh Kumar Meena on Raj Kasireddy’s petition. The next hearing was adjourned to May 13. The same day, the anticipatory bail petition filed by YSRCP MP Mithun Reddy in the same case will be heard. With this, the Supreme Court said that these two petitions will be heard together.
