Jaganmohan Reddy files bail petition

YSR Congress party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy Wednesday filed a bail petition in a special CBI court in the Andhra Pradesh capital, officials said.

A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed three chargesheets in the disproportionate assets case against him, the Member of Parliament from Kadapa filed a bail petition.

The court admitted the same for hearing, and directed the CBI to file its reply Thursday.

The four-month deadline set by the Supreme Court for the CBI to complete the investigations in the case ended Sep 8.

The apex court, while rejecting Jagan's bail plea in May, had said the petitioner can move the trial court for the bail after the completion of investigations.

Jagan was arrested by the CBI in May last year on charges of attracting quid pro quo investments in his companies. He has been charged with entering into criminal conspiracy to grant favours to firms which invested in his business when his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, from 2004 to 2009. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy died in a helicopter crash Sep 2, 2009.

The CBI has so far filed eight chargesheets in different aspects of the case. The federal agency is likely to file three more chargesheets in the next few days.

This is the seventh time that Jagan has filed a bail petition in the trial court. The Andhra Pradesh High Court and the Supreme Court have dismissed his bail pleas twice each in the past.

Jagan, his financial adviser Vijay Sai Reddy, former state minister Mopidevi Venkatramna and businessman Nimmagadda Prasad have been lodged in Chanchalguda Jail here for over one year.