With YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy announcing that he would embark upon a six-month long 3,000-km padayatra from October 27, there seems to be sudden movement in the cases filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with the alleged quid pro quo deals.
It was evident from the way the Hyderabad high court striking down Jagan’s petition to combine all the three charge-sheets filed against him by the CBI in the special court and conduct a joint trial.
CBI counsel argued that Jagan had filed the petition seeking a joint trial only with a view to delay the ongoing trial in the special court.
He also informed the court that since each crime was different from the other, different charge-sheets had to be filed.
He said there is no provision in the Criminal Procedure Code for a joint trial. The judge agreed with the submissions of the CBI Special Public Prosecutor and remarked that a joint trial cannot be sought.
Sensing that the petition may be dismissed, the counsel for Jagan sought the permission of the court to withdraw the petition, which was granted by the judge.
It does mean, the CBI court conducts three separate trials for Jagan on different charge-sheets. And Jagan may have to appear before the court regularly as long as the trial continues. As a result, he will not be able to concentrate on his party activities.
There is every possibility that the trials might speed up from October and Jagan may have to attend the court cases almost every alternate day and this will not allow him to take up padayatra during this period!
