The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Vijayawada on July 25 (Tuesday) dismissed the petition filed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy seeking an in-depth investigation into the conspiracy and the persons allegedly involved in the attack on him at Visakhapatnam airport with a ‘Kodi Kathi’ by J. Srinivasa Rao in 2018.
The court posted both Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s plea seeking exemption from personal appearance before it and the bail petition of Srinivasa Rao to August 1 for further hearing.
The attack on Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who was then the Leader of the Opposition, took place on October 25, 2018 when he was about to leave Visakhapatnam airport for Hyderabad in the midst of ‘Praja Sankalpa Yatra’ to attend court proceedings there. He was then spearheading his YSRCP into the 2019 elections.
His argument was that the ‘induction’ of the accused in the high-security VIP lounge of Visakhapatnam airport, smuggling of the weapon (Kodi Kathi- a knife tied to cocks in cockfights) into the airport premises and the dysfunctional condition of CCTV cameras there smacked of a conspiracy to eliminate him.
He also made allegations that some top leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) could be behind the criminal conspiracy.
Further, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy insisted that the charge-sheet had no mention of the investigation of the security personnel in charge of the entry and exit points of persons employed at the airport.
In an earlier filing before the court, the NIA made it clear that a thorough investigation by it did not reveal any criminal conspiracy and there was no role of any person other than Srinivasa Rao and that it found no evidence of his association with any political party.
As far as his appearance in the court both as the victim and a witness is concerned, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy prayed for the appointment of an Advocate Commissioner to record his evidence.
He stated that as he is a highly protected citizen with a high-risk threat perception, interruptions in busy schedules related to discharge of his Constitutional duties would hinder implementation of various government schemes and policy decisions and his travelling to the court would put the public to great inconvenience, he should be allowed to record his evidence through video-conference or electronically or in other mode.
On the other hand, Srinivasa Rao pleaded for bail on the ground that he had already been examined in detail by the NIA, and he spent nearly four years in jail. He expressed anguish that the case was being dragged by Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy and he is trying to avoid his attendance before law.
