SC refuses to stay probe into Jagan Mohan Reddy's assets
22 Jul 2011
In what comes as a setback to former Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Supreme Court today refused to stay an Andhra Pradesh High Court order for a preliminary CBI enquiry to ascertain if assets in his possession were disproportionate to his income.
A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma turned down Reddy's plea, refusing to interfere with the order of the high court.
According to the bench, ''at this stage'' no interference with the high court order was warranted as it was only a preliminary enquiry and the high court could refuse to allow proceedings against him if nothing substantial came out in the probe.
The bench, however, asked the high court to hand over a copy of the CBI probe report to Jagan if it decided to proceed against him on the basis of the agency's findings.
The bench refused the plea of senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who representing Reddy, tried to convince the court that there was nothing against the politician and it was a case of political rivalry.
Reddy, son of late chief minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy, had petitioned the apex court against the Andhra Pradesh High Court order arguing it was "illegal" "erroneous" and "unsustainable" and deserved to be quashed.
