ED seeks day-to-day trial of Jagan in quid pro quo case

Hyderabad: The ED has moved the Telangana High Court for a speedy, day-to-day trial and the personal appearance of all the accused in prosecution complaints filed by it under the provisions of the PMLA against former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and others.

Days after the ED served notices to Kadapa MP YS Avinash Reddy asking him to appear before the agency for questioning in an alleged hawala cash transactions in murder of former minister YS Vivekananda Reddy, the ED officials have sought speedy trial process and day-to-day appearance of Jagan Mohan Reddy and other accused in connection with the quid pro quo case which was registered a decade ago.

The agency officials filed a fresh petition before the Telangana High Court seeking directions to the AP former chief minister to attend day-to-day proceedings and speedy trial process in the sensational quid pro quo case.

The ED stated that the Supreme Court observed that the economic offences constitute a class apart and need to be visited with a different approach. The economic offences having deep rooted conspiracies and involving huge loss of public funds need to be viewed seriously and considered as grave offences affecting the economy of the country as a whole and posing serious threat to the financial health of the country. At least ten years ago, based on the FIRs registered by the CBI, the ED officials initiated action against YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, and 73 others for investigating government favours to large corporate and individuals and receipt of huge investments into the companies of Jagan Mohan Reddy and his family members as part of quid pro quo arrangements for the favour extended by the Andhra Pradesh government when YS Rajasekhar Reddy was the chief minister.

The ED officials found that huge investments were made by companies and individuals such as Aurobindo Pharma Ltd, Hetero Drugs Ltd, Indu Projects Ltd, Indu Techzone Pvt Ltd, Lepakshi Knowledge Hub Pvt Ltd, VANPIC Projects Pvt Ltd, The India Cements Ltd, through subscription of shares at exorbitant rates into the companies such as Bharathi Cement Corporation Ltd, Jagati Publication Ltd, Janani Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, related to YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his family members. In the latest development, the ED, through the right to speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution, approached the court of law seeking to direct the criminal justice system to ensure that proceedings are to be conducted with reasonable expediency.

The proceedings have remained pending in YS Jagan Mohan Reddy case nearly ten years and the chronology of the proceedings itself demonstrates the absence of reasonable expedition in the prosecution of the matter. To conduct speedy and day-to-day hearing of the prosecution complaints filed along with discharge petitions in the interest of justice.

According to ED, the agency has filed a total nine charge sheets against Jagan Mohan Reddy and others before the CBI court between the period 2016 and 2021. Cognizance has been taken in all the nine charge sheets and pending for hearing of discharge petitions. The pendency of the discharge petitions has kept the prosecution complaint at a preliminary stage and has consequently delayed further progress of the complaint.

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Mouli Mareedu

Mouli Mareedu