The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notice to the CBI on a petition filed by YSR Congress (YSRC) president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy seeking bail in the cases registered against him by the agency.
A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai issued notice after hearing senior counsel Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Jagan.
The Bench, however, dismissed another petition filed by Jagan challenging the grounds of his arrest.
In his appeal against the A.P. High Court order dated July 4 dismissing his bail plea, Jagan said there was complete and utter misapplication of the principles governing bail jurisprudence by the High Court and this had led to a continuing deprivation of his rights under Article 21 of the Constitution.
He said the CBI had wholly failed to show even a shred of proof to suggest that he would tamper with evidence or influence witnesses. In fact, the High Court had also ignored the basic fact that for over nine long months and three charge-sheets after the registration of the FIR, he had enjoyed his freedom without any complaint of influencing more than 150 witnesses listed.
He said, “It is trite to say that merely being wealthy or in public life cannot disqualify an accused from the basic protection afforded by the law. Despite the fact that ‘Bail, Not Jail’ is the norm, the High Court has relied on extraneous factors, including the alleged loss of public money, which was yet to be proved.” The High Court had concluded that bail ought to be denied to him simply because of his political position. He said he never interfered with the investigation nor did influence any witness at any point of time.
