In what can be considered a setback for YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, a special court for CBI cases on Friday dismissed his petition requesting that he be given exemption from personal appearance in the court in the CBI case pending against him.
The court, which reserved its judgement last month, gave an order to this effect, indicating that Jagan has no option but to attend the court every Friday for the trial.
The court said there was no justification in the reasons cited by Jagan to seek exemption from personal appearance in the court.
In September, Jagan filed the petition in the CBI court seeking exemption from personal appearance stating that it would be difficult for him to attend the trial every week because of his present position as the chief minister by virtue of which he has to be available to the people round the clock.
He also argued that his position as chief minister has a lot of protocol and security cover, which pose an additional burden on the already strained exchequer.
The CBI, however, rejected Jagan’s claims stating that there was no change in the conditions of the case, except for Jagan becoming the CM.
Any exemption to Jagan would give him an unsolicited liberty to do whatever he wanted and influence the witnesses “behind the iron wall of political, money and muscle powers.”
It also argued that in all the 11 charge sheets, Jagan stands as an accused in his individual capacity and as representative of his privately-owned companies and therefore should attend the court as such.
“Any reference to the revenue and financial condition of government of Andhra Pradesh is only an attempt to deviate the attention of the court from real issues,” it said.
Jagan has not attended the court after being sworn in as the chief minister on May 30. In August, he obtained the court’s permission for going to Israel and later to the US on a personal visit.
