Supreme Court upsets YS Jagan

The Supreme Court on Wednesday "refused to interfere with the High Court order" that directed the CBI to probe into the alleged illegal assets of Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

Dismissing the Special Leave Petition filed by the Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice Deepak Verma said that it would not interfere with the Andhra Pradesh High Court's July 12th's interim order, directing the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry.

Representing Jagan Mohan Reddy, senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi questioned the jurisdiction of AP High Court to order an inquiry against him without being prima facie satisfied of the allegations against him. But the bench said that if, after the receipt of the CBI report, the high court feels that no case is made against Reddy, it will drop the case. The higher judiciary cannot be divested of their powers to direct the CBI inquiry where they feel as such, the court said.

Textiles Minister Dr P Shankar Rao filed a petition in the High Court stating that Jagan's income increased from Rs 11 lakh in 2004 to Rs 43,000 crore in 2009. He had sought a CBI inquiry into the companies that had invested in Jagan's businesses to allegedly win favours in the form of land allotments and mining leases from the then YSR government. After hearing the petition, the High Court directed the CBI to probe into the matter. Later, Jagan Mohan Reddy approached the Supreme Court seeking stay on High Court orders.

Following High Court's directions, the CBI has registered against 74 individuals and companies and conducted searches and seizures across the country. The seized documents and hard disks have already been submitted in the AP High Court and the CBI is waiting for further orders from the court to proceed with the investigations. With the Supreme Court dismissing the petition, it appears that the Kadapa MP had no escape and will have to face the CBI probe till end.