HC pulls up CBI counsel on Nimmagadda bail plea

The High Court on Thursday pulled up the CBI counsel for harking back to the chargesheet in reply to every question posed by the court while hearing the bail petition of Nimmagadda Prasad, an accused in the assets case of Kadapa MP YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Justice Samudrala Govindarajulu questioned  CBI counsel P Kesava Rao about the link between the involvement of the accused in the Vanpic deal and the reasons for opposing his bail plea. The judge also asked the CBI counsel whether there was any involvement of the prime accused Jagan Mohan Reddy in the Vanpic scam. He  wondered how falsification of government records could be attributed to Jagan.

In reply, the CBI counsel said Jagan was in no way connected with the falsification of records of the state government with regard to allotment of lands and grant of benefits to Vanpic project. However, Jagan’s companies  received huge investments from Prasad in return for the benefits he received from the government during Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime in the form of lands, incentives, exemption from paying registration charges, etc.

It was Prasad who got the concessional agreement and cabinet memorandums modified unofficially to make several additions and deletions in the original documents to the detriment of the state’s interests. When the CBI counsel explained to the court as to how Prasad managed to keep the entire 24,000 acres of industrial corridor land outside the purview of the state through sheer deceit, the judge sought to know whether prime accused Jagan Mohan Reddy had any role in such actions of Prasad. The CBI counsel replied that Jagan was not involved in that but said Jagan’s firms received huge investments from Prasad.

The judge said he had his own method of extracting truth from advocates through independent research. “I do not rely solely on what you say or what your charge sheet says. You should satisfy the court with your arguments. You may satisfy the people (higher-ups of the CBI) behind you with your arguments”, the judge told the CBI counsel.