Andhra High Court cancels bail for Jagan’s auditor

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Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, V Vijay Sai Reddy, CBI, Andhra High Court, Vijay Sai, Assets Case

Justice K C Bhanu of the Andhra Pradesh high court on Friday set aside the order of the trial court that gave bail to V Vijay Sai Reddy,

The auditor for Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's group of companies and directed the trial court to hear the bail plea of the auditor afresh and pass an order duly recording the reasons on merits of the case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had moved the petition that the bail granted by the special CBI court could hamper its investigations.

The judge made this order after hearing the petition filed by the CBI which felt aggrieved by the order of the CBI court and sought cancellation of the bail. The trial court did not record any reasons or findings on the pleadings made by the CBI and the situation arose due to non-application of mind by the trial court, justice Bhanu said in his order.

The CBI expressed the apprehension that the auditor, being the key man behind the whole case, may influence the future proceedings of the case if he is out on bail at this stage. The trial court in its order dismissed this line of argument saying that when all other accused including accused number one Jaganmohan Reddy is out in the open, it would not be proper to detain only the auditor in the case, that too after he having spent 104 days in judicial custody. Vijay Sai Reddy's counsel opposed the continued detention of his client in the name of further investigation which may not end in the near future. If influencing the proceedings is the crux, other accused in the case too can do that, the trial court had said.

CBI counsel told the court that the agency filed the first charge sheet against Jaganmohan Reddy, Vijay Sai Reddy and others in respect to aspects where it concluded investigations.

After spending over three months in the Chanchalguda Central Jail, Vijay Sai Reddy was released on April 13 on a conditional bail granted by the special CBI court.

Vijay Sai was arrested by the CBI on Jan 2, and listed the number two accused in the charge sheet filed by the investigating agency last month.

The vice-president of Jagati Publications Private Limited (JPPL), owned by Jaganmohan Reddy, is also an auditor in many other companies of the state.

The CBI had booked Jaganmohan Reddy, who is popularly known as Jagan, and 73 companies and individuals in August last year on directions of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

According to the investigating agency, Jaganmohan Reddy conspired with his father and then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy to dole out several favours to certain companies in return for the investments they made into his businesses.

Vijay Sai Reddy is the only person arrested in this case so far.

Justice Bhanu said he was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case at this stage and said it was for the trial court to hear the matter afresh and pass an order. Afte the bail was cancelled, the counsel for Vijay Sai told the court that his client would surrender on Monday before the court and sought a direction to the trial court to hear both parties on the same day and pass the order as early as possible. The HC passed an order accordingly

Fri 20 Apr, 2012,9:17:19 PM